


Infinity Train FANFIC

by SirSpoder



Series: Infinity Train [1]
Category: Infinity Train, Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:25:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 55,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9646229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirSpoder/pseuds/SirSpoder
Summary: When tulip gets trapped on a train that goes onto a path that leads to eternity, she must team up with a robot, a dog in order to find a way to get to the front of this infinity train and solve the mysteries surrounding the train cars.





	1. Black and White

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer/Notes: I do not own Infinity Train, nor do I own any of the characters from the original pilot. Infinity Train is a potential cartoon that belongs to the brilliant man Owen Dennis. I highly urge you to go watch the Pilot Infinity Train and support this potential show. It is on Youtube, posted on Cartoon Network's channel, it is only a mere 8 minutes and 38 seconds. This is simply something I do with the sole purpose of having fun (although if I'm being honest, the main reason is to spread awareness of this amazing pilot because I really want it to be a full series. I watched a video on Youtube that explained that I should try to share Infinity Train content as much as possible, share, draw, make fanart, cosplay, etc. Well since I can't do any of that, I figured I do the next best thing - writing.)
> 
> Anyway, I got so hyped for this series that I went ahead and make a headcanon of the first season for it. The events of this story takes place right after the pilot. It is 100 percent non-canon. Please do support the official release.

  
“Good morning Miss Tulip, fine day for a morning jog isn’t it?”

The young girl woke from the cheerful energetic cry of the tiny spherical robot. The little guy was just too happy for his own good, he just didn’t know when to quit, one of these days he’s going to get into deep trouble with his naive enthusiasm, she knew that better than anyone – and unfortunately she also knew that better than One-One himself. That being said, it was still rather fortunate that Glad-One’s strong sense of optimism was balanced out by his other half, the Sad-One. Admittedly it wasn’t really an improvement.

“Ugh, One-One,” the girl grunted, “why did you have to wake me up so early?”

The girl rubbed her eyes and reached out for her glasses. It took a while before she finally remembered everything that had happened up until this point. King Atticus of Corgidia had given her a nice and large chamber for her to rest in, and thank god for that. She hadn’t slept like that since she got on the train, those days of sleeping on the floor with only her backpack was just borderline unpleasant. Well no more of that, she told herself. These corgis just never ceased to surprise her with their incredibly evolved civilization; their infrastructure, their buildings, just… amazing.

“Come now Miss Tulip,” Glad-One said, “The sun is up, the sky is clear, don’t you just love the smell of the rising sun?”

“One-One… ugh,” She sighed, putting on her glasses, “First of all, you do know that the sun inside this train car isn’t real right? It’s probably just the result of a very brightly painted background reflecting lights off of that work light or… something similar. Second of all… I’m really worn out from all the commotion that happened yesterday so I would really appreciate it if you could just leave me be for a couple more minutes.”

“Huh? But I thought you’d be excited after what happened. I mean you did say that we were making huge strides in discovering the truth about the number on…”

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Tulip sprang up, finally woke up from the weariness.

She looked down onto her right palm. There it was, the glowing green number – 49. There was no mistake about it. The number was 53 for an entire week. But after their encounter with that _thing…_ it finally went down by four. She wasn’t dreaming, it was all true. She felt very close to cracking the mystery of this train and of the number.

“I’m not sure what it is…” She said, “But I feel so close now. There is definitely a connection between the number and that thing we met yesterday. If I can just figure out… what the connection is.”

“Or you could spend your entire life endlessly searching these train cars in vain, with no possibility of an answer or closure,” Sad-One chimed it, perfect timing.

“Yeah, thanks a lot for your input One-One, really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” Sad-One said, as if mourning.

They then heard a loud booming sound of a horn that echoed from the halls. King Atticus once again arrived on his tiny little throne, with the corgis once again accompanying him.

“Greetings, Tulip the Literate,” said the adorable little corgi bowing down, “I do hope that you’d had a good night sleep in our fine housing. I understand that it is rather subpar due to the size difference between you and my people. It’s a shame really…”

“Oh, no, no, it’s okay, Atticus,” she assured him, “it’s great. The service’s been great. No complaints here, no complaints.”

“Excellent, I’m glad to hear it,” said Atticus, “Well, anyway, I am here to inform you that my preparation for our journey is complete and I am ready to join you on your noble expedition.”

“ _What?”_ Tulip cried in shock, “You’re… joining us?”

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well… it’s just that… um,” Tulip said, trying to find the right word, “I’m not entirely sure about this. I mean we’ve already got a pretty big party here… me and One-One… it might be a bit inconvenient.”

“Oh, my dear Tulip. As much as I respect your pride and your resolve, I simply must insist that I join you on your journey. After all, we did help you out with your little problem, and as far as I’m concerned, the monster that attacked us was a threat to my people, so therefore I must make sure that such a problem does not arise in the future. Besides, there’s really no harm in taking me on your journey is there?”

“He’s right you know,” Sad-One said, depressed as ever, “We _were_ a pretty miserable bunch until he came around.”

“You are not helping,” Tulip groaned at the little bot, “the only reason we’re ‘ _miserable’_ is because of you.”

“Oh yeah… that’s right.”

“Look,” Tulip turned back to Atticus, “I really appreciate your offer to join me but um… it’s just that… um… oh yeah… I mean, don’t you have a kingdom you have to run or something? I mean, what happens if you just leave the place here leaderless? A coup could happen, a revolution.”

But Atticus only laughed it off:

“Ha ha, nonsense! The good people of Corgidia wouldn’t even think of doing such a horrid thing. This is a monarchy, what do you take us for? Do you think that this is some kind of government system where… where the _people_ actually have the power? Sounds… barbaric if you ask me.”

“Right… um… right… eh… um,” Tulip then peeked around to take another look at the buildings. Yup, they were definitely reminiscent of the Greeks. Oh the irony, what would the forefather of democracy make of this?

“Besides,” Atticus said, “it’s not like I don’t have a plan for my people while I’m gone. That’s why I am putting Nero in charge. He is a fine corgi, young and trustworthy, he’ll be a great leader one day. Corgidia is in good hands I can tell.”

Tulip stood there in awe of the circumstances she was in while Glad-One just rolled around cheering for young Nero. Tulip finally decided it was best not to discuss this further and just let Atticus do what he wanted.

“Okay, fine. You… may join us on our journey.”

“Excellent.”

“Cheers for Atticus, _hip hip…”_

 

 

 

“Okay, here we go, onto the next car,” said Tulip with her hand on the door, “remember guys, that monster… thing escaped through the hole on the wall. She’s probably in one of the cars up ahead so we must be careful, anything can happen.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“Ready? Here… we go!”

It was a massive room, not as big as Corgidia but still very vast. Although the sight of the room was kind of underwhelming since it was basically a gigantic chess board – which managed to produce a frustrated groan out of Tulip since they’d already seen this before.

“Ugh, again with the chess?” Tulip cried.

“Wow, what are these funny looking statues here?” Glad-One said, “Did you make it? Could you make me one too? I like mine white, with a little bit of black, but not like these statues here. Preferably round if you could.”

“No One-One, for the love of, ugh… I didn’t make this okay? And we’ve discussed this before, these aren’t statues, these are chess pieces. We literally ran into another car full of chess pieces the other day, did you forget?”

“Yes,” Sad-One said nonchalantly.

This wasn’t really a sight she wanted to see, dealing with one room full of frustrating puzzles and chess pieces was enough for one lifetime. With that being said, there was a slight difference with this set of chess board. There were no pieces on the wall, they were all the same size – about a few feet larger than Tulip – they were all lined up like a typical chess game, but the strangest thing was that the only pieces that were on the board were the pawns. There was no king, no queens, no bishops, they were all replaced with pawns.

She was confused, she tried peaking over the side to see if there was anything else but pawns, but nope. The two rows of black pieces on the other side were just the same as the white pieces over on this side.

“Huh, curious,” said Atticus.

“Have you ever been in this car before?” Tulip asked.

“I haven’t been to any other car on this train besides my own.”

“Hooray!” Glad-One cheered, “Hooray for Atticus, the one who’s got no experience outside of his own car. A wise choice to join us on the journey, don’t you think?”

“One-One,” Tulip snapped, “you’re not really helping you know that? We don’t really need your sarcasm right now.”

“What’s… sarcasm?” Glad-One asked naively, which infuriated Tulip even more.

“Come on,” she sighed, “let’s try to figure out this car.”

This chess board was lined up pretty much like a standard chess game. So maybe it was urging them to play the game. But what was the goal? There were no king pieces. So perhaps… the goal was to get to the other side, or to take out all the pieces on the other side. Well, that seemed like the only plausible solution at the point, Tulip thought. So she just went along with it.

The chess pieces were surprisingly light, just like in the last chess car. It was like carrying a really big piece of foam or something, nothing too heavy. When she picked up the first piece and placed it a square forward, she was caught off guard when the black piece on the other side started moving on its own. But honestly, with the amount of crazy things she’d seen at this point it had became quite a common sight. She figured it must’ve worked as a magnet of some sort. She proceeded to walk across to the other side to push another pawn piece forward.

“Wow, you’re really good at this game, Miss Tulip,” said Glad-One.

“One-One, these are just pawn pieces, they’re the most basic piece in the game,” she told him.

“Well, you’re still better than me,” Sad-One commented.

“They’re right, Tulip,” Atticus said, “If it wasn’t for you, we probably wouldn’t have even been able to figure out how to get pass this room. You’re like ten steps ahead of the game, as if you’re already adept at playing chess.”

“That’s right,” the Ones agreed.

“Oh, stop it you guys,” said Tulip, slightly flattered, “If I was being honest with you, I’m not really that good with chess. I mean, my dad once got me a set for my birthday, we played a couple of games together. And he kicked my butt real bad,” She chuckled slightly, “I haven’t played since forever now, I probably can’t even remember how the knight moves, ha-ha… of course, maybe things could’ve been different if my dad has some time to spare and…”

“Um… Miss Tulip?”

“Err… you know One-One, it’s kinda rude to cut someone off like that. You know that don’t you?” She said.

“Err… Tulip,” said Atticus, trembling slightly, “I think you might want to look behind you.”

A look of concern furrowed her brows but then that changed around real quick into a look of shock when she was met with a large shadow casting over her.

“ _Good evening milady._ ”

“AHH!” The three of them screamed.

He came out of nowhere, it was a gigantic white porcelain knight chess piece. It came to life… it actually came to life! Out of nowhere, too. Tulip was absolutely sure that there were nothing but pawn pieces in the room, this just leaked a stream of confusion into her mind. It was like watching a movie with extremely high quality special effects, the only difference was that this was no special effect, it was real. His skin was shiny like marble, his mane brilliant and glossy as if it had been polished and groomed over and over again. He had eyes that was blank and yet at the same time was joyous and jovial. The knight piece also had a surprisingly great smile for a horse, he looked somewhat… majestic for a horse without a body or legs. He was like a stallion born for war and heroic feats.

“Oh, I apologize, milady,” he said, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Who… who are you?” Tulip asked, still recovering from shock.

“My name is Fredrick the Third, Noble Steed of the West at your service. I have served many masters throughout my life. War generals, merchants, you name it. Thou shan’t find a better stallion than myself. Like the valiant and mighty warriors and heroes carving their names into legends and myths, I too was once of myths and legends. Oh how the mighty hooves of iron trotted through wars, how their mighty horns  screams in the hands that they bore, how their heroic sword of steel clashed in ancient lore, truly… majestic.”

His demeanor was… odd to say the least. As if he was role playing or something. Perhaps he was getting himself too deep into old literature. Tulip knew about that better than anyone.

“Yeah, that’s… great… um… hi I’m Tulip. These are my friends – One-One and Atticus.”

“Hello.”

“Greetings Fredrick the Third,” said the corgi.

“So um… what are you doing here anyway?” Tulip asked, “Where did you even come from?”

“Oh right, right, I almost forgot, ahem… welcome – to my humble dwelling,” Fredrick bowed down as far as he could for a knight piece, “Once a mind of a simple pawn, a page, just a servant… now I have risen above and beyond. This title of Knight was awarded to me for my bravery and heroism.”

“What?” Tulip said with her head spinning, trying to make sense of what he was saying, “What does that even mean?”

 “I think, Tulip,” Atticus said, “that he was once a pawn piece, just like all the other pieces here in this room. But he is now capable of transforming himself into much more – a knight piece.”

“Huh… interesting…” It still didn’t make any sense no matter how you put it – a sentient chess piece. It was still insane and illogical, but she had started to get use to it. Sentient robot, talking dogs, talking chess piece made her learn to just go along with it, no matter how crazy.

“So there are others like you?” Tulip asked.

“Why yes, they’re all here. They are essentially my family,” Fredrick smiled.

“Why are you the only one capable of transforming then? Why are the others just sitting there… not moving?” Tulip asked once more.

“Probably just contemplating their miserable lives, pondering on how they could never escape this chamber of eternal suffering,” Sad-One conveniently chimed in.

“You sure are a morbid one aren’t you, round circle little robot?” Fredrick said.

“Why… thank you… I appreciate it,” Sad-One replied.

“Bah, it doesn’t matter now,” Tulip said, cutting in, “you said that this is your home right? So could you help us out a little here? We’re trying to find a way to unlock the door and get to the other side. Do you know how?”

“Why yes I do…” Fredrick said with a smile that disappeared immediately, “Wait, no… no, I do not. Apologies Miss Tulip, oh curse this worthless mind that I bear, oh how I’ve failed my name, my place in legends. What sort of a hero am I who could not even help a mere damsel in grave distress like this? Truly, this is…”

“Okay, okay, okay, we get it,” the girl stopped him before he could ramble on, “If you don’t know how to get out of here then could you at least give us some hints on the puzzle in this car, just… tell me about yourself and your… ahem… family here.”

“Oh, why yes, that reminds me of a spectacular tale of my youth…”

“You know what, nevermind, forget I even asked,” she raised her hand, stopping him short.

“ _I’d_ like to hear your tale,” Glad-One said.

“Indeed…” Sad-One agreed.

“Why on earth would you even want to do that?” Tulip asked, once again irritated.

“Why else? To slowly past the time and reflect on his miserable loneliness before realizing how pointless all of this is,” Sad-One said, followed by Glad-One saying:

“Yeah, and I like stories.”

Tulip was about to snap at One-One before she was distracted by Atticus by the corner sniffing around for something. She quickly diverted her attention and went by to check it out.

“What is it, Atticus?”

“Tulip…” he said, “do you smell that? The chess pieces…”

She didn’t notice it at first until she went in closer and started smelling the chess pieces. She realized then that it was indeed something strange.

“Oil?”

“Not just oil, also metal and a little bit of rubber,” said Atticus.

“Huh, weird…” she said, “… wait a minute… there’s a little crack here. Hold on, I got it, I got it, I’ll just get out my little screwdriver here and…”

But she stopped half-way due to Atticus staring at her, probably wondering why she was carrying around a screwdriver. To which she quickly justified:

“What? Screwdrivers are handy, you’ll never know what kind of freaky situation you might end up in.”

She dug right into the small crack and forcefully gave it a sudden jerk to the side so she can open up to see what was inside.

It was curious, though. Very curious indeed.

“Wait, what?”

It was a machine, the chess piece was a machine. There were wires everywhere inside, connecting to countless different slots all of which were secured by screws and cogs. It all seemed so familiar, and Tulip recognized it right away at the sight of a small blue spark from a broken piece of wire lying at the bottom with oil spewing everywhere.

“It does look awfully familiar, doesn’t it, Tulip?”

“Yeah… these are the same parts from that robot monster we met back in Corgidia. Makes sense… they’re on the same train after all. Which means that… all of these chess pieces are… robots as well. But why? What does any of this means? Are these robots… out of commission? If so who broke them.”

“Perhaps it was the monster that was responsible for this massacre,” Atticus commented.

“Maybe…”

But then there was something else. Tulip couldn’t help but notice there was something… strange going on. Something she never noticed coming in. This place was dump. It was rusty, it was filthy. There were also a couple of mechanical parts attached onto the walls and they were exactly the same as the chess pieces – broken and in need of repairs. She squint her eyes, then adjusted her glasses as she followed the wreckage on the walls before finally landing her eyes onto the ceiling – where the lights were.

“Wait the minute…” Tulip mumbled, realizing something. She immediately strode across the room over to where the door of the car was, Atticus followed her soon after.

She wiped off the dust on the wall next to the door. It was metallic and heavy.

“Hold on… let me just…” and once more digging into the square metal sheet on the wall with her screwdriver and forcefully pried it off. The cover flew right off and onto the floor creating a loud metal clang.

“Of course…” Tulip whispered under her breath, finally realizing, “It all makes sense.”

“Tulip, what is it?”

“Look at this Atticus,” she showed him, “I think I figured out how to get this door open. The chess pieces and this car is a part of one big system. They are all connected. The chess pieces and this car have been so broken down now that they all stopped functioning altogether, Fredrick was probably the only one who wasn’t damaged as much. I suspect that these robots have a function that allows them to transform into… well, that! That explains why Fredrick was the only piece in the room that wasn’t a pawn piece. So all we have to do is fix the circuits and the machinery of this room and we’ll be good to go.”

“Incredible,” Atticus looked up, admiring, “You did it Tulip! You solved the great mystery of this car. But how are you going to fix all of this?”

“Well, let’s just say that I’ve been looking into machinery and computers way more than I should have. So… um… I think I’ll be fine.”

She started getting to work immediately, looking into each and every one of the chess pieces across the room. Luckily Fredrick was very willing to give out a helping hand, his noble pride wouldn’t allow him otherwise. Although he didn’t have any hands, his teeth did an incredible job a substitute. The two went around prying open each chess piece with Tulip trying to rewire the machines so that it could run properly again. Fortunately not all of the chess pieces were severely damaged, some of them just had issues with the wires and some loose screws.

It was hard work, it felt as if it took an entire afternoon but it sure was worth it. Tulip wiped the sweat off of her forehead and proudly looked onto her accomplishments.

“You did it Tulip!” said Atticus.

“Yay, yay us, YUS!”

“But… now what?” Sad-One asked.

“Now…” she told them, “we just have to fix the panel over by the door and it will definitely open up.”

“I have a question, though,” Glad-One said.

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

“Well… I was just wondering, how was it that we were able to open the entrance door if the system wasn’t functional… like you said.”

She thought about it for moment, but deep down, she actually already had a slight idea of why this was the case. She then told them:

“I have a hunch… ever since I first got onto this train I felt like we were being watched. I think… and I’m not entirely sure about this… I think that somebody is playing a game with us, testing us or something like that. They probably wanted to see our mental capacity and see if we can think our ways through this train. It’s all a game to them, and I’m sure that whoever’s doing this was most likely the one who opened that door for us.”

“ _Wait…”_

A deep voice echoed behind them, Tulip’s head spun right around. Fredrick seemed… different. He bowed his head down with his mane covering his entire forehead.

“… _So… ‘tis true… that you are not from the train,”_ his eyes lit up to an inferno red spark.

It all happened so quickly, the three of them couldn’t even react. The entrance door slammed shut just as the lights in the room turned into a devilish black, even darker than when they first came into this car. There was suddenly a loud siren screaming through the metal walls. The darkness was hemming in – and chess pieces – woke up.

“What’s going on Tulip?” Atticus barked in panic.

“I don’t know.”

“Wow, who are these fine fellas Miss Tulip?” Glad-One asked, “Is it my birthday already?”

Their eyes lit up like the fire of hell, crimson red. Slowly each piece began to morph into a bunch of different chess pieces. A few white knights over to the right, a couple of black bishops over yonder and even a black queen. They were like statues, you could see their faces… faces of a woman, a man. They looked eerily humanoid with eyes blank as crystals. The chess pieces slid across the floor with heavy steps, they didn’t have legs and yet you could still hear their footsteps, louder than the war drums.

“ _Beware_ …” the pieces screeched, “ _Beware… the King… with eyes that… see it all… his eyes… that glare and sing… through these infinite halls…”_

 _“_ AHH!”

“Quickly Tulip!” Atticus shouted, “To the door!”

She swiftly grabbed One-One and rushed straight to the door. But the chess pieces were everywhere. They hummed their songs over and over in the darkness. A rook piece suddenly charged towards them from the crowd, it was like a giant bull throwing itself towards them.

“LOOK OUT!”

But One-One suddenly jumped out of her hands.

“Oh, is this a hug?”

He threw himself right towards the furious rook piece with just enough force to knock the rook off balance and divert its path to the side. It hurled itself into the pile of rusty chess pieces knocked them all over like bowling pins. It was actually quite spectacular.

“Come on, One-One!”

She picked the little round robot up and tossed him into her backpack and made a spectacular leap straight to the door.

“Shoot!” She cried, “The door’s still locked.”

“Hurry, Tulip, you must fix the door,” Atticus said.

“But the chess pieces are still after us.”

The pieces quickly picked themselves back up despite not having arms or legs. Tulip could still hear the sound of the raging hooves galloping from behind. It was definitely Fredrick, and he was coming in fast. Honestly Fredrick’s so called tales of ‘ _heroism’_ didn’t really feel like stories at that point.

“TULIP!” Atticus yelled.

She didn’t know what to do. Confused and panicking, she started hyperventilating, choking on each breath. The walls started to close onto her, darkness and the crimson light were overwhelming.

She didn’t have a choice. So she did the only thing she could think of at that point. The girl yanked out her screwdriver and forcefully dug it right into the panel by the door, destroying all the machinery and the wires.

And yet…

It must have been her luckiest day yet because surprisingly… Fredrick – by some sort of impossible miracle – snapped out of his enraged trance. His facial expression changed back to that smiling ‘ _noble’_ steed that they knew. It was the system, all the chess pieces began dropping like flies just as the system was breaking down.

However, unfortunately… the mighty horse never managed to stop sprinting towards them. He just didn’t know his own strength. So he just proceeded to ram his head straight into the metal door and busted it open, yanking the big piece of metal off of its hinges, screws were flying everywhere.

“OW… _my spleen!”_ The horse groaned.

 

 

 

“So… you sure you’re going to be alright? By yourself?” Tulip asked.

“Fret not milady,” Fredrick replied with a smile, “I… ahem… I will be fine.”

“I mean…” Tulip hesitated for a second, “… I mean… they are your… what I’m saying is… you did say that they were your family.”

“Oh… well, I don’t remember much of them anyway. They never talked much, not to me at least,” Fredrick said, “But I’m fine with that. I enjoy talking, I like to share with them my tale of bravery.”

That managed to produce a giggle out of Tulip. It was quite charming actually, his pure innocence. He never meant any harm. He was never in control when things went crazy back there.

“Listen, thanks again for all your help,” Tulip said, “we would’ve never made it if you hadn’t bust down that door for us.”

“You are most welcome,” Fredrick said with a bright horse smile, “I must admit, though, I will miss you greatly. It was fun sharing my tales with you.”

“Likewise,” Tulip said with a smile, which was rare, especially since she got on the train, “I have to ask, though. How come we don’t see the King piece anywhere? I’m pretty sure that it’s one of the most important pieces in chess.”

“Oh, we haven’t seen the King in a long while now,” Fredrick frowned slightly, “We get by fine enough, but our kingdom is just not the same without our King. I honestly do not know where he is. Yet, in my heart I still wait for him, he is my master, my loyalty is with him.”

“That’s… great, Fredrick… well, so long, Fredrick the Third,” Tulip said, waving him goodbye.

“Oh, wait, a word of warning,” Fredrick stopped her.

“Yeah?”

“This train is unpredictable, it is very much a mystery, an enigma. You won’t do so well without guidance… I know a man, he calls himself the Conductor. Find him… he might be able to help you just as he’d aided my people.”

Tulip suddenly had a strange feeling boiling up inside her guts – perhaps it was suspicion. She had theorized that they were being watched this whole time. Perhaps… this Conductor was the mastermind behind it all. Well… only one way to find out.

Tulip thanked the knight piece once more and then left to the next car. Fredrick was still standing behind them, but it had already felt like a thousand miles away.

“Aw, are we leaving already?” Glad-One asked, “I wanted to listen to more of his stories… I like stories.”

“Oh, how I will miss the symphony of his meaningless tales about his absolutely meaningless life,” Sad-One mourned, it was melancholic as usual.

Normally, she’d try to say something to point out how ridiculously crazy One-One was… but at the moment… she couldn’t help it but smile.

“You did well today Tulip,” Atticus complimented, “you sure are full of surprises.”

“Thanks… but… it’s just that… I still feel like none of this makes any sense. There’s no logic behind it... just makes me feel so… helpless… I just don’t like feeling helpless.”

“Tulip,” said Atticus, “I think that there comes a point where you must realize that the only thing logical in this world is the possibility of the illogic.”

That was when she instinctively stared down to the number on her hand – still 49. It was only then did she recall that the number on her hand going down did not make much logical sense either, but in the end… it didn’t really matter… because she got her push regardless.

“… Yeah, I suppose…” 


	2. Sand People

“I spy… with my little eyes… something that is round, white and happy.”

“Oh, I know this one,” said Atticus, “Ooh, it’s on the tip of my tongue I just know it… um… err… bah, woof, I give up, I just don’t kn… wait the minute, wait the minute, I’ve figured it out! It is a head of a happy snowman, yes I’m sure of it.”

“I’m pretty sure that One-One is referring to himself, Atticus,” said Tulip.

“Oh no, he’s right,” Glad-One laughed, “I _was_ thinking of a happy little snowman.”

“You know, I’m not even sure if you know how to play this game,” Tulip told the little bot, “you can’t just make up something out of thin air, you have to actually be able to see this object.”

“Well, I _did_ see a happy little snowman…” Sad-One said, “In my dreams that is.”

“Wait, do robots even dream?” Tulip squinted.

“I don’t know, do dogs dream?”

“Of course we do,” Atticus said, “Yesterday I dreamt that Corgidia was in flames and everything was destroyed in the fire. Of course I know that it couldn’t be true because we have Nero back home in charge of things.”

“Don’t try to change the subject here, One-One.” Tulip snapped at the bot.

The three of them had gone though a total of three cars since they left Fredrick’s chess car. The puzzles hadn’t been too hard in those cars, so they managed to go through fairly quickly.

“Okay, here we go,” she muttered to herself, “let’s hope we find something… new here…” She still hadn’t been able to make much headway on discovering the truth about the number. The girl was hopeful every time she opened another door to another car, and each time the results were the same – nothing.

But this time – things were a little bit different…

It was the same feeling when she first entered Corgidia, the feeling of overwhelming awe – A train car that from the outside looked like any regular train car, but when the doors were opened it led her into an entire whole world that defied the laws of physics itself.

But this was a different kind of awe. In fact she wasn’t even sure if it was awe at all, the car was big, that was no lie, but it was also pretty empty. There was basically nothing around for miles but a floor full of yellow sand and the scorching sun shining down onto it. There were also gusts of sandstorm lingering about, but nothing too dangerous. Now that she thought about it, it was more of an underwhelming kind of awe rather than the overwhelming type. But still, she wanted to be cautious regardless, Fredrick did say that the train was unpredictable.

“This… is rather depressing, don’t you think so Miss Tulip?” Sad-One said.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “even by _your_ standards…”

“Well, then… shall we proceed on finding the door to this train car?” Atticus suggested, “It _is_ a rather large car, we should get going as soon as we can.”

“I was thinking maybe we should stick around a little bit to find some clues,” Tulip said, “most cars we’ve been through so far had a purpose, or at the very least a kind of puzzle to it, I don’t think that it’d be _that_ easy… I mean what are the chances that we’re just going to suddenly run into th…”

“Is that _it_ over there?” Glad-One pointed to their left with his tiny little limb.

“Huh… what are the odds?”

It was strange, the door was situated a little bit over to their left instead of straight ahead like the other cars. The three of them approached the door after treading across the deep piles of sand. Tulip tried the door knob but it wouldn’t budge.

“Drats!” She cried, “It’s locked.”

“Well at least now we can all die knowing we tried…” Sad-One said in a tone full of sorrow.

“I’m not gonna give up that easily.”

“That’s the spirit!” Atticus cheered her on.

“Start looking around guys,” she told them, “maybe there’s a key or something lying around in the sand. Look for anything that could be a clue.”

“Hey what’s that over there by the door?”

They didn’t even notice it before, must have been covered up by all the sandstorms. Tulip dusted off all the sand and revealed the object underneath, it was a scale made out of iron. The thing was rusty and cold despite the burning sun. On one plate of the scale there was a pile of sand, about the size of Tulip’s palms, while on the other side there was nothing, thus keeping the scale in imperfect balance.

They all then noticed a plaque made of iron placed above the scale and it read: A HEAP OF SAND.

All three of them exchanged gazes with each other, all confused and concerned about what the plaque was saying.

“What do you suppose it means?” Atticus said.

“I think it wants us to make a pile of sand,” Glad-One said, “anyone got a shovel? I want to dig up a pile or two.”

“Or we can use that shovel to start digging our own graves,” Sad-One offered his opinion, “since all of this will be fruitless regardless of what we do.”

“Doesn’t sound half bad to me,” Glad-One agreed.

“You guys keep saying things like that one more time and I swear I’m going to throw you off this train!” Tulip snapped at the two, “let’s use common sense here guys, there’s a scale here, and the plaque says ‘ _a heap of sand’_ which means…” She waved her hands at the bots, hoping they would be able to fill in the sentence.

“Which means… um… I think… um… err… it means…”

“Ugh,” Tulip groaned, “sometimes I think you guys are doing this on purpose. It’s like I have to do everything myself. Just go and gather around a pile of sand, the scale obviously wants us to balance it with another pile of sand. Just like the balance puzzle back in the other car.”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember.”

It honestly felt a bit too simple, but who was she to argue, the girl thought to herself. She didn’t hesitate a moment, due to how much she wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. So with a handful of sand she poured them onto the empty plate on the scale until both plates were balanced.

“Okay, that should do it,” she wiped her hands of the sand, “go ahead and try the door now.”

 The little corgi nodded and leapt upwards towards the door knob – but it wouldn’t budge.

“Huh, that’s weird,” Tulip scratched her head, “maybe we need to balance it exactly… hoo boy, this is going to take a while.”

Try as she might, the metal door just would not budge. Sand piles after sand piles, she measured it carefully, making sure that the two were exactly the same height above the ground. She even tried having each of the Ones to stand underneath each plate to make it balance then placed the sand pile on top, still nothing happened. It felt like she wasted an entire afternoon trying to count these grains and make them perfect but at the end of the day the results were still the same – the door was still locked.

“Ugh, my god, this is TAKING FOREVER!” She yelled out of frustration, “We are never going to get out of here at this pace!”

“I don’t know, I quite like it here,” Glad-One said, rolling in the sand.

“Take it easy, Tulip,” Atticus told her, “I suggest you take a break from solving this puzzle, you’ve been going at it for a long time now, if you keep this up you’ll never have the energy to make it across the train.”

“Fine,” she sighed, “I suppose you’re right. I suppose we can spend the night here, it’s… not so bad… maybe…”

It got dark real quick, Tulip still couldn’t figure out the mechanism of the sun inside the train. Maybe she’ll learn once they got to the front of the train. They managed to build a campfire around the door, surprisingly the train car wasn’t completely empty since there were still a few broken twigs here and there, maybe enough for a night or two. Tulip had to use her lighter to light up the fire. It was getting cold, even with the sun burning the car for the entire afternoon.

“So… let me see if I understand this correctly…” Atticus said, lying on his belly, “you… don’t remember how you got on the train?”

“Yeah… it’s just… everything’s been kinda… blurry lately… I… I don’t really wanna talk about it. I just have too much on my plate at the moment, first things first, I have to find a way off this train.”

“I understand Tulip. I too have a family back home in Corgidia. I know what it feels like.”

“Aren’t you worried at all?” Tulip asked, “I mean what if you go too far away from your car on this train? How do you even know you could return? Your family is probably worried sick at the moment.”

“That’s true,” the corgi said, “but they also put their trust in me, because they know that I will stop at nothing to return home to them once my mission is complete. That’s what families are for… it is built on trust and faith in one another.”

The little redhead sighed:

“I just wish that was always the case…”

“Um… Miss Tulip…”

The wind suddenly rose from the darkness, they heard its screams, the screeching of the midnight wind. The campfire was weakening, and One-One saw something lurking in the darkness.

“Careful Tulip,” Atticus started growling towards the direction of the wind.

“Hold on Atticus, I think I have a flashlight in my backpack.” The girl started rummaging through her stuff but it was still so dark and the flames were close to going out.

Before the girl could even turn on the flashlight the large shadow emerged from the distant sand piles of the cold darkness. It was gecko.

The creature didn’t seem like a threat, but it did look quite queer. The thing was standing on its hind legs, almost straight up. It was a lot bigger than most geckos. As the matter of fact, now that Tulip got a better look of the creature in the light, the gecko was actually at least four foot tall. It was nearly as tall as Tulip herself. Its scales also seemed a lot harder than regular geckos, it almost looked like they were made out of hard tree barks.

Tulip held her chest while sighing in relief, thankful that it wasn’t some kind of horrendous monster from a horror novel.

“It’s okay guys,” Tulip told them, “I got this.”

The girl slowly approached the creature, careful not to startle it. But the gecko did not move from its place, it gave her a strange look. It was as if it was a look of curiosity rather than a look of fear.

“It’s okay little buddy,” she extended her hands, reaching towards it, “you don’t have to be afraid little buddy…”

“ _Okay, you seriously have to stop talking to me like I’m some kind of brainless pet_.”

She widened her eyes, almost popped out of the sockets in her head. Oh yeah, that’s right, she really did forget that the rules on this train were not conventional, it was illogical. And yet so far she still couldn’t get use to hearing animals talking aloud like it was no big deal.

“Oh… sorry about that… little… gecko… man…”

“My name’s Zapp,” the gecko said, “and y’all shouldn’t be out here alone, especially at night.”

“What do you mean?” Atticus asked.

But before he could answer, the wind started howling again. Zapp’s expression suddenly changed.

“No time to explain,” he said, “follow me if y’all wanna live tonight. It’s safer down town.”

“There’s a town around here?” Tulip asked, surprised.

“Yes, but we must hurry. Come! Quickly now, we haven’t much time. And douse that fire quick!”

 

 

 

 

They managed to make it back to this town just in the nick of time. But honestly, Tulip didn’t really feel like they were in any actual danger. Sure it was kind of dark and the wind howling made the air kind of cold and unpleasant, but that was about it. She didn’t actually see anything around for miles, until Zapp led them over a sandy hill where they finally spotted the town. Tulip couldn’t believe that they didn’t notice this before.

It was an old-fashioned old western town, the kind that you would find in one of those old cowboy cartoons. There was a big saloon over to her right and couple of old buildings here and there, built with rustic mahogany wood. Strangely enough there were a couple of tortoises parked outside of some of the buildings as if they were horses or something. This train was a very strange place indeed – reptiles riding on top of other reptiles – she never thought she’d live to see the day. Still made absolutely no darn sense.

“It’s not much,” Zapp said as they walked down the hill, “but at least you’ll be safe.”

“Safe from what exactly?” Tulip asked.

“It’s… um… it’s best if you don’t know… for now.”

Confused as always, but the girl kept reminding herself to just go along with it, since there was likely no point in trying to make sense of any of this.

“Ahh…” One-One suddenly rose out of Tulip’s bag, catching her by surprise.

“One-One, you’re awake… what on earth haven you been doing all this time?”

“I was napping,” Glad-One said while smiling (with his eyes apparently).

“And you didn’t feel or hear us running for our lives? Not even a bit?” Tulip asked.

“Nope,” Glad-One said, “it was pretty cozy in your bag here I tell you… so, what did I miss?”

“Ugh…” she groaned, figured that she was already so exhausted so why bother, “nevermind…”

They walked in the darkness for another long while before they approached an old house by the outskirt of town.  It was ancient and really dusty, or maybe they were sand, not dust, you could never tell in the darkness like this. He grabbed his dangling keys by his side and cracked the old door open, the inside was even worse than the exterior. The room was simple, it was two stories tall, most of it was made of wood and there was an old piano by the corner covered in dust and cobwebs just like everything else from the table and the one chair beside it.

“Well, here we are,” Zapp said, “it’s really not much but you can stay here during the night and in the morning we’ll figure things out.”

“Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Zapp,” Atticus said, “we are in your debt…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, save it,” Zapp said, scanning around, “just go inside and find a place to rest and um… do whatever it is you wanna do, I have something I need to take care of. I’ll probably be back when the morning comes.”

“Wait,” Tulip reached out for him, “I have questions…”

“I _said_ save it! We’ll talk in the morning alright? Right now I need to go meet up with a buddy of mine… _and whatever you do_ , DO NOT go outside until the sun rises, got it!”

“But…”

But before Tulip could ask any questions the gecko slammed the door shut, leaving them in this dark room alone. I suppose it’s not so bad, Tulip thought to herself. At least they had a place to stay. Well not much of a choice anyway, also it was not like she was going to object anyway, she really wanted to sleep.

 

 

 

 

It was a pretty rough night but they managed through – barely. Tulip found a rather cozy bedroom upstairs, it wasn’t anywhere near the quality of Corgidia but it was serviceable. The sun was so bright that Tulip was already awoke just after a few minutes of it barely peaking over the horizon, she figured it was still rather early.

Zapp really did keep his promise, he came back just minutes after Tulip opened her eyes. Everything felt strange, almost to the point of nausea, because they’d been going through this whole situation non-stop without any explanation whatsoever. They weren’t just traveling through darkness, but they were almost literally kept there in the dark.

“Ah, good,” Zapp called out, “you’re awake. Well, the sun’s up so it’s safe for now.”

Zapp quickly dashed across the dusty wooden floors to the kitchen area, he still seemed impatient and almost as if desperate, just like how he was yesterday. He reached for the cupboards and yanked out a bunch of apples which he then threw onto the table.

“Alright, ‘ere,” he said as he grabbed one himself, “eat up, we’ve got a long day to go. We haven’t got much time, see.”

“What?” Cried Tulip, “No, wait… now hang on a minute. I still have some questions.”

“Not now alright? We simply do not have the time.”

“ _Sure we do, Zappy.”_ A deep voice suddenly echoed from the doorway which snapped Zapp out of his impatience.

He was another gecko, slightly taller than Zapp, and surprisingly was wearing clothes. He wore a long navy-blue duster covered in sand with a cowboy hat on top. He also had a beard believe it or not, an actual beard full of hair, it was like silk threads made out of silver. He also sported a pair of holster with two shiny metal revolvers on his thighs.

“Hello, Klyde,” Zapp said.

“Aw, cheese and crackers, for the love of… would you just put on some clothes already? I’m tired of seeing you walking around like this, it’s… _really_ uncomfortable.”

“I don’t have the time alright!” Zapp snapped at the other gecko, “Look Klyde, we have to go _now!_ You saw what happened yesterday.”

“I did, and panicking ain’t gonna do us no good. So just calm… just calm down alright?”

“Um, fellas…” Tulip barged into their conversation, almost had enough of being left in the dark, “I hate to interrupt, but _would somebody please fill us in on what the heck is going on here?”_

The two geckos stared at the girl dumbfounded. Klyde started looking at her from head to toe then adjusted his duster as he approached her.

“My apologies,” Klyde said, “We _are_ dealing with a rather stressful situation at the moment so forgive our rudeness… mostly from my partner Zapp here anyway.”

“ _Hey!”_ Zapp cried.

“Now… and you are…”

“Um… oh, yeah, I’m Tulip, and this is Atticus and One-One.”

“Hello.”

“Greetings to you.”

“Great,” Klyde said, “look, let me just cut to the chase, despite my partner’s rash and hasty actions, he really wasn’t wrong when he said we were short on time, so how ‘bout we take this out on the road, I’ll explain everything. There’s a great saloon in town owned by a woman named Judith, it’d be much better to talk there than here in this… this awful dump.”

Tulip and Atticus nodded. Beats staying here in this dusty house, she thought.

“Here we go,” Klyde said when they got outside, “we’ll ride with my tortoise, Hank.”

Tulip had never ridden a tortoise before… actually she’d never even ridden a horse before in her life, never even seen one. Riding on top of this 1000 pounds creature really was one of the strangest experiences ever. It was actually surprisingly fast, nearly as fast as an actual horse, you couldn’t really tell the difference.

The sunrise really did make it easier on Tulip’s eyesight since she could now look at the town a lot clearer now. It was covered in a lot more sand than she expected. Nearly every roof on every single building had at least one layer of sand on top. The sandstorm must have been a lot harsher around these parts.

“You see Tulip,” Klyde started explaining as they rode along, “this is just a simple town inhabited by simple folks living some simple lives, just an ordinary spring with a great fresh water spring over yonder and some coyotes we can hunt, there’s nothing too special about that and we’d like to keep it that way. Of course, that was only until recently when we’ve been experiencing attacks from an unknown source. Those darn things are attacking our farms, our houses, our cattle. Things have been pretty harsh lately, and no one knows why. So panic is the obvious result.”

“Who’s been attacking you guys?” Tulip asked.

“Well, we don’t know where they come from,” Zapp joined in, “all we know that there’s been reported sightings of mysterious white figures roaming near the areas where these attacks happened. Those creatures all have something in common, blue blazing eyes and a blank white face. Some folks started calling them the Phantom People.”

It struck right at Tulip’s core, the description sounded exactly like the encounter she had with that monster full of wires and claws back in Corgidia, the one which attacked them with machine guns. She felt the sudden obligation to chime in:

“That sounded just like an encounter we had with… a similar creature.”

“Ah, so you’ve been experiencing similar troubles I assume,” Klyde said, “well that puts us on the same boat then. Zapp and I have been keeping active patrols to help keep the folks ‘round here safe. But it’s been rough, the attackers never stayed in one place long, they also attack us with these strange weapons… it’s almost like a kind of string or wire that came out of their hands.”

It just got too familiar for Tulip, there was definitely a connection between the monster she met and these attackers in this car. But the question still remained, what purpose did these creatures serve?

“How long has this been going on?” Atticus asked while riding in the backseat.

“Not entirely sure.”

“I heard the first reported sightings came in ‘bout a week or so, could be a bit more.” Zapp said, which gave Tulip a strange chill down her spine.

“ _We’re here!”_

The tortoise called Hank stopped just short of the saloon.

“Zapp, how ‘bout you put Hank into the stable while I introduce Judith to our guests here.”

Zapp nodded and rode off just as they got off of Hank.

“Follow me, quickly now.”

Klyde barged furiously through the door. The place was like a typical cowboy saloon like in one of the comics or cartoons only this time it was filled with geckos that were a bunch of loud and brash patrons, going around and spilling their drinks all over the place through their petty fights or ridiculously over the top arm wrestling contests that always ended up in breaking a table or two, all while the musician in the back played some ragtime scores on the dusty piano by the corner. It was actually even more camp and over the top than most cartoons Tulip had seen. She really did felt kind of uncomfortable and out of place with all these violent and loud geckos fighting all over the place, she wasn’t really used to these kinds of things.

“Ha-ha, I liked this place,” Glad-One said from Tulip’s bag, followed by Sad-One mourning:

“I don’t.”

“Come on you guys,” Tulip hushed them, “let’s just try not to attract too much attention to ourselves alright? Just be natural and blend in.”

Klyde walked across this ‘ _warzone’_ as if they were nothing but bug bites. Which sort of made sense since he looked like a tough son of a gun himself. They approached the bar where a big chubby yellow gecko was polishing one of the mugs on the cupboard. Tulip assumed that it was Judith.

“HEY JUDY!” Klyde yelled over all the commotion in the bar, the big gecko slowly turned around.

“Klyde, darlin’,” Judith called out as if he was an old friend she hadn’t met in a long time, “How ya doin’ baby? Care for a drink?”

“You mean that yucky muddy water you call a drink? You know that I couldn’t care less for any of that disgusting goo.”

“Ha-ha, sure thing, honey, whatever you say. Just you wait, one of these days you’re gonna be begging for it… since you’ll be drinking these stuff non-stop, I guarantee it.”

“Yeah, I doubt it,” said Klyde smiling, “anyway, I’m not here for a drink, I’m just here to check on how Hardy Herbert and Jed’s doin’ with their fence building, we need that thing up as soon as possible.”

“Sorry hon’,” Judith told him, “those boys are doing the best they can but they just can’t help it if there’s a shortage on logs now, can they?”

“Curses!” Klyde cried under his breath, “Alright, alright, alright, I can deal with this. Just tell me that the boys at least have their weapons ready, me and Zapp haven’t had a single hour of sleep yesterday with all the patrolling.”

“Well… you see…”

“ _Gosh dang it, Judy!”_ Klyde slammed his fist on the table.

“Hey, hey, hey, it ain’t all bad ya see, I already had Jed round up all of Percy’s cattle into his barn. You know how reckless that boy can be ever since he inherited that whole barn from his Pa.”

“Yeah… at least there’s one less pain in the butt now,” said Klyde, “Oh yeah, Judy, I’d like you to meet our guests, Miss Tulip, Atticus and um… One-One, right? ... Yeah One-One.”

“Um… hi.”

“Hello.”

“Greetings.”

“Well,” Judith leaned over to look at them closely, as if she had trouble seeing, “it sure is nice to meet all of y’all now. Care for a drink? Finest western muddy ale from ‘round here.”

“Oi, look at you,” Klyde said, “Offering kids these drinks, heh, classic Judy.”

“Hey, this actually pretty mild compares to what the kids are doing these days.” Judy joked, shrugging her shoulders.

“Ha!” Klyde chuckled, “Keep this up and I might actually be a mood good enough to buy one of yer drinks.”

“So erm, hey,” Tulip waved at them, grabbing their attention, “so Klyde here told me that you guys have been having some trouble with these… ahem, Phantom People.”

“Oh yes,” Judith said, spitting onto one of the mugs then started wiping them, “absolutely terrifying, ugh, what I would give to just get rid of them. They’ve been terrorizing these good people for far too long now, Percy’s been crying on and on about missing cattle, fences are getting torn down, it’s awful I tell ya.”

“Well…” Tulip said, “I’ve been encountering with a similar creature so… maybe I can help out. Is there a way for me or for us to help out or…”

But both Klyde and Judith started chuckling like they just heard a good joke, Judith said:

“Let me tell ya something alright kiddo? Do you know who this son of a gun is? This is Klyde ‘the Viper’ Bradshaw, sheriff ‘round these parts you see. There’s a star badge and everything.” She pointed towards the tiny silver star that Tulip never even noticed before.

“Pleasure to meet you,” he took his hat off while bowing his head, Judith continued:

“This is a fella so tough that he once survived a blizzard storm full terrible monsters and predators fer… fer a whole darn month with nothing but a can of beans… he never even opened the can of beans.”

“Because I forgot the blasted can opener,” Klyde started laughing his butt off, seemed as if he wouldn’t be able to stop.

“So you see,” Judith said, “if the Viper here can’t solve this problem then no one can.”  

“Remember Tulip,” said Klyde smiling, “it’s the little things that counts, you don’t need to be out there trying to change the world every single day. It’s all about the little actions, the little details – that’s what really matters here. Don’t believe me? See over there? That’s the butcher, she once helped the baker with a supply shortage problem, the baker needed some filling for his cake, the butcher suggested meat, it was just an idea but they worked on it together and eventually… you know what happened? They managed to produce one of the most heavenly dishes I’ve ever tasted, a kind of meat pie you see. Trust me it tastes better than it sounds, the meat pie helped a lot of poor and starving folks around these parts… so yer see, what started out as something really small is now something… um… revolutionary. ”

There was something about all of that that made Tulip grin like an idiot, she didn’t know what but she couldn’t help it either.

“Just something to keep in mind,” Klyde said, “… Oh, oh, wait now just a minute, that reminds me, though, you fellas haven’t told us why y’all are wandering ‘round these parts yet, haven’t you?”

“Oh, right, right,” Tulip smiled awkwardly, “well you see the thing is we’re just trying to get off of this train. There’s a door over by… east of here… I think, I don’t know, but it’s locked and we just couldn’t figure out how to get it to open and…”

“Wha… wha… what’s this?” A random patron suddenly came around, “What’s this talk about leaving the train? Eh? Who wants to leave the train?”

A strange darkness suddenly fell onto Tulip, Atticus and One-One. All the other patrons of the saloon suddenly stopped whatever the heck they were doing before – fighting, screaming and so on – and immediately shifted their focus onto the girl, even the pianist by the corner stopped playing turned his neck right around. Their reptilian eyes were watching, not a second to blink.

“Now, now everyone, just calm down will ya,” Klyde stood up from his seat, “she didn’t really mean it now… did you?”

“Well… um… no, I mean… yes,” Tulip stuttered, “I mean I really am trying to get home. I was told by this… this horse guy to find the Conductor of this train, he said that he could help me to…”

But she could already hear people gasping in horror even before she could finish her sentence. Apparently she said something that she shouldn’t have said, which was probably why people were whispering to each other at the moment.

“What?” Asked Tulip while still confused, “What’s going on?”

“Don’t you know anything?” Judith said, “The Conductor is one of the biggest jerk-face ‘round these parts. Heck, I bet he’s the reason why we’ve been getting all these attacks as of late.”

“What? No,” said Tulip, “no, but the horse… Fredrick said that he’s a good guy, he helped him and his people and all…”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble kid,” Judith said, “But the fact of the matter is that nobody here likes the guy, we once let the darn fella roam freely around in here for a day and he literally trashed it overnight. He destroyed the barn, he took down all the fences letting all the cattle loose, he even filled up our well with a bunch of giant rocks because he thought it would be funny.”

“He’s a dangerous man, Tulip,” Klyde told her, a strange darkness surrounded him, “he has powers that none of us could even comprehend. Not much is known about the man, but it’s best to not have anything to do with him… so you see a guy with white hair wearing a coat – you run, just run, don’t even look back, don’t try to fight him and whatever you do, do not, I repeat DO NOT try to outsmart him… because you can’t.”

“Yeah… but…”

However, Tulip was suddenly cut off when a loud crashing noise burst through the door which made everybody’s heads turn – it was Zapp. The gecko was breathing like an old train’s engine, with hot sweat pouring furiously from his scales.

“Zappy!” Klyde called, hopping off of his seat to check on his partner, “What’s the matter? Talk to me!”

Took a few seconds, but Zapp finally managed to compose himself.

“The Phantom…” Zapp cried, “They’re here! They’re here, Klyde! We tried to hold them off as long as we could but there were just too many of them, Hardy Herbert and Jed stayed behind to buy us some time but that’s all we have. We have to leave, Klyde… we have to leave _now!_ The Phantom People are here… please… Klyde…”

“Alright, alright, I know, Zapp… I know… we should leave as soon as possible, any of those Phantom folks find us and we’re toast. We evacuate immediately!” He shouted towards the patrons in the bar, “Go home to your folks now and start packing, don’t leave anything important behind, alright? We might not return here for a while, so make sure you prepare, so CHOP-CHOP people! We ain’t got all day now. Be sure to help anybody around who’s having trouble packing, I don’t want anybody left behind, you got that?”

The geckos leapt out of the saloon as soon as they heard the announcement, they were surprisingly quick on their feet despite just having at least a few dozen gallons of Judith’s drinks. The creature on this train never ceased to surprise Tulip.

“Wait, Klyde!” The girl grabbed the sheriff during the ruckus, “I think I can help, with the evacuating I mean. I have experience dealing with these kinds of monsters so maybe…”

“NO Tulip!” Klyde shouted, there was something in his eyes, a certain… spark. Perhaps a spark of… frustration. He could do nothing but sigh, “Look… if ya really want to get off of this train… then… I suppose… I suppose I can’t really stop you. But Tulip, listen to me, this… all of this… is too big for you.”

“But I can help!” Tulip cried over all the commotion.

“Remember what I said about the little things?” He told her, “This is one of those cases. You can’t always go out there every day and hope you’ll be able to do something to change the world. You have to know your limits. What really matters is the little things, small acts of kindness and things like that.”

 

 

 

 

Klyde showed her a little passage behind the town and directed them back to the door where they came from. He insisted that they leave the town as soon as possible, it wasn’t like Tulip had any objection… but still.

This feeling… this emotion inside her – she really did want to help the gecko folks back there. She hated the feeling, the feeling of being rejected. The girl just couldn’t wrap her head around all of this. She could’ve helped with the evacuation, but Klyde still said no. She never understood why.

“Back to the drawing board Miss Tulip?” Glad-One asked.

The girl didn’t answer, but managed a slight nod.

“But we never did find out how to open the door,” Sad-One said.

“That’s true,” Atticus said, “but I know that that won’t stop us from figuring it out in the end. After all, we have Tulip the Literate on our side, with her vast knowledge and quick wit I’m sure she will be able to devise a plan to open up the door.”

“Oh just stop it already,” Tulip groaned at them, “I… I can’t help us… I can’t help us out of this mess. I can’t help us out of anything. I couldn’t even help those poor folks back there. I thought I had the answers in the back of my hand but then this train just had to come around and makes things complicated. I just… I just don’t know anymore.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Tulip…”

“But how can I be anything other than that?” The girl almost shouted at the corgi, “I mean look at this stupid scale, the plaque and the pile of sand. I mean ‘ _a heap of sand_ ’? What the heck does that even mean? It’s almost as if…”

She suddenly stopped. The cogs were turning, something within her sparkled. An idea? A solution?

It suddenly clicked with her. Something Klyde told her made her think.

“ _A heap of sand_ …” she muttered to herself, “… _the little things…”_

Of course.

“THAT’S IT!” She snapped her finger, somehow, some way snapped out of her trance of depression, “How could I be so stupid? It’s so obvious, how did I not think of it before? I of all people should know this!”

“What is it Tulip?”

“It’s all a paradox you see,” the dog and the robot seemed puzzled, so she explained, “Imagine you have a pile of sand with a million grains, it’s considered a heap right? What happens if you take away one grain? I bet that it would still be considered a heap. But what happens when you take away nearly all the grains and leave behind only a single speck? Is that still a heap? Where do we draw the line? And thus herein lies the paradox.”

The girl walked by the rusty iron scale while grabbing a handful of sand off of the ground.

“The rules of this train work in illogical and paradoxical ways, it’s just its nature. I finally understand what Klyde was trying to tell me.” Said Tulip, “The values in the little things, the small actions we take. No matter how big or small it is, even something tiny as a single grain…”

With careful fingers, she managed to pick out a single speck of sand from her palm. It was so tiny, almost fragile. And yet somehow it was rather… shiny, she could feel the desert’s sun burning from within.

She placed it onto the cold plate of the scale. They couldn’t notice anything changes at first, and yet Tulip knew in her heart right then that the most beautiful sound in the world at that moment was the sound of the clanking metal within the door knob – a solid sharp click.

“Even something as insignificant… could have immense value…” At this point she just couldn’t help but smile like an idiot.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The paradox in this story was loosely based on the Sorites Paradox


	3. Golden Claws

A redhead, a robot and a corgi traveling on a train that went on forever. It sounded absolutely ridiculous but it happened. The girl – called Tulip – although was happy that they finally managed to solve the puzzle in that desert car, still felt upset that she didn’t get to help out the gecko folks. With that said, the girl still took what Klyde ‘the Viper’ told her to heart and was determined to follow it through.

The girl looked once more at the glowing number on her hand, still stood at 49. She sighed in disappointment:

“Whelp… nothing so far. I just… I just couldn’t figure out what on earth this number means. It couldn’t have been related to all the puzzles I’ve been through, because I’ve solving like bazillion puzzles at this point.”

“It’s definitely got something to do with that monster we faced back in Corgidia,” Atticus told her, “so we find the monster, we find your answer.”

“I’m just not sure I’m ready to face that thing yet,” Tulip said, “because last time we faced the darn thing, it wasn’t exactly friendly. Also… those creatures, those attackers the... the... what was it called again? … The Phantom People, that’s right! The things that have been bothering the gecko folks, according to Zapp all of them had one thing in common – a blank white face with blazing blue eyes, exactly like that monster we met. And I have a feeling that those Phantom People aren’t the friendly type around here.”

“That’s true,” Glad-One said, “but what if the creature just wanted us to be friends.”

“Most likely due to being consumed by the eternal boredom and loneliness of this train,” Sad-One commented.

“Don’t be ridiculous One-One,” said Tulip, “you saw what that thing was trying to do to us the other day right? It was firing its freaking machine guns at us. FREAKING MACHINE GUNS! Unless of course there’s an unspoken or hidden culture on this train about greeting your friends by firing at them that I’m not aware of… boy, now that’d be something…”

“But… think about it…” Sad-One told her, “The monster didn’t _really_ attack _you_ now did it?”

That was… admittedly true. Tulip thought about that for some time now, it didn’t add up. The thing was firing furiously when it saw One-One and Atticus. And yet when she came face to face with the monster, it didn’t do anything other than grab her with its tentacles. Was Tulip… somehow special? It didn’t seem like it wanted to hurt her, it just wanted her to ‘ _return to her seat’_. Whatever the heck that meant.

Bah, that can’t be right, the girl thought, slapping herself in the face. Even if the thing never meant to hurt her, it was still hostile. It wanted to take her somewhere, and Tulip wasn’t going to have any of that.

“Let’s just get onto the next car.”

 

 

 

 

It was one of the smaller cars around here, but a spectacular one at that. Tulip couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A freaking gigantic mountain stacked with gold, treasures and at least a bazillion gold coins. Falling down from the sides were countless diamond tiaras, rings and golden crowns of all sizes. The wooden chests full of treasure were also stacked up nearly as high as the mountain of golden coins all around the room.

On the bottom of the pile was… another pile treasure of about a billion different types of riches and extravagant goods that only a sultan could actually afford, like these countless rolls of silk and precious fabric just lying around waiting to be taken away. And here we have a pile of emeralds, another pile of rubies and… apparently a fish chewing on a bunch of sapphire stones… or something. Oh, the weird things that rich people do with their money.

“Wow… holy macaroni…” the girl gasped while glancing around.

“Magnificent isn’t, Tulip?” Said Atticus, “I’ve seen my fair share of riches and wealth during my rule, but this… this is something else.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Said Tulip, still in awe, “just imagine what all of this could buy… it’s… it’s… just… just breathtaking.”

“Well, I don’t know about you,” said Glad-One, “but I’m gonna jump right in now – _GERONIMO!_ ” Glad-One instantly popped away from Sad-One and launched himself straight into the tall pile of gold.

“Careful One-One!” Tulip shouted, but it was already too late.

“Any minute now you will hear the sound of silence… it will be the sound of his slow, painful suffocation,” Sad-One announced, “well then, I would like to request a pen and some paper, an obituary is in order.”

“YIPPEE!” And so Glad-One instantly proved Sad-One wrong by not only surviving the fall, but also sliding down the enormous pile of riches like he was riding down a snow mountain with a golden avalanche following him shortly behind. 

“Well that was fun,” Glad-One cheered joyously.

“I swear…” Tulip muttered under her breath, “I honestly don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

“You’ll get used to it,” said Atticus, “it’s like having children. Trust me, I speak from experience. The pups back home never could sit still for five seconds. They only calmed down after we gave them some chew toys. Even then it was only for a short while.”

“Well, I don’t have any chew toys and I don’t think the Ones here have a mouth to chew.”

“Miss Tulip!” Glad-One called from over the other side, “I found something.”

“Never could sit still huh Atticus?” Tulip asked.

“… You’ll get used to it… maybe…”

The girl trod carefully across the floor full of gold coins and chests, fearing that it might fall over her like some sort of landslide.

“What is it One-One?”

“Look here Miss Tulip, there are numbers on the coins.”

It was true, the little bot handed her the tiny coin piece. There was an emblem of a face of a young elegant man with handsome features sculpted onto the surface. And on the bottom: a number – 2374 – was carved onto the hard golden surface.

“Wait the minute,” she said, “this… this isn’t the year… I mean… I know some coins have the year carved onto them, but this can’t be the year… can it?”

“Tulip,” Atticus barked, “over here.”

The little corgi king managed to sniffed out another pile of coins. Tulip grabbed them and saw that it was the strangest thing. They all had a different set of numbers each. Every single one of them, always four digits, no more, no less. 3917, 7181, 8856 and so on.

She stared at the pile of coins then at the coin in her palm and then back again, it just didn’t make any sense. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. But there was this sneaking suspicion… it was something that she prayed to not be true.

“You don’t think…”

The three (four?) of them quickly scurried off to the other side of the room trying to find the door of this train. It felt all too familiar, it was like as if the train was playing a game with them.

“I found the door Miss Tulip,” Glad-One called from behind a large pile.

They all gathered around the large metal door… and it was just as she had feared – there was a number pad stuck on the side of the door – four digits.

“ _No!_ ” Tulip cried, “Not another one… not another one of these impossible… it can’t be.”

“YAY, a number pad…” Glad-One cheered, “… I don’t get it… where’s the punch line Miss Tulip?”

“The punch line,” Sad-One said, “is that we are all just a bunch of miserable creatures made up of ones and zeros with no meaning or value. Trapped, trapped once more in these train cars. I should have written that obituary ages ago.”

“This is serious One-One,” cried Tulip, “Look at this thing. It’s asking for a password. A four digit number. The password is probably on one of these coins but… gosh dang it! I can’t take… I just can’t… _argh!”_

“ _OI, KEEP IT DOWN WILL YA?”_ A voice suddenly bellowed from behind the large pile of gold.

Eyes widened and completely in shock the three of them stood there. They all strained their ears to hear the silent mumbling behind all the treasure. There was definitely something there – a voice. It was deep and raspy. And it was muttering something.

The three of them crept carefully around the pile. They were astounded to find what was lurking behind, Tulip didn’t even hear anything when they first came in the car until now. It was peculiar creature, and a scary one at that. It made her a little bit hesitant to approach it – a gigantic magpie.

It was huge, possibly a few inches taller than Tulip. She had never seen any bird that was this big. The weirdness didn’t stop there, though, oh no. The bird was wearing a brown vest and black top hat. A freaking vest and top hat! It was at this moment that she was certain that nobody would ever believe her if she ever got to live through this and tell the tale.

She was unsure of what the creature was doing around all these piles of gold. It was… digging? The place sure was a mess, though… so there was that. But it was still muttering something that she had trouble picking up. Curious as she was, the girl decided to take a step forward.

“Hey, knock it off will ya?” The bird squawked, “I told you to keep it down, it’s hard enough to count with all the voices booming by my ears.”

“Oh… um… I… I’m sorry.”

“If you want something from me then spit it out, I haven’t got all day you know,” said the bird, “I’ll probably say no anyway so just be quick about it.”

“Oh, okay,” said Tulip, “so I was wondering…”

“Oh just shut it!”

“Excuse me?”

“Not you,” cried the bird, “… yes… yes… I know, I know, you don’t have to tell me every single time… well I ain’t no idiot… I’m not gonna… no… I have counting to do, I’m going to forget… uh huh… uh huh… huh… I suppose I could write it down somewhere…”

“Pardon me good sir,” Atticus said, “but all of this is a bit confusing for all of us, so pardon us for asking – who are you exactly? And who on earth are you talking to?”

“Ay? Oh right, right, guess I better get to introducing… wait, what was that? … uh huh… nah, it’ll be alright, it’ll be alright…”

“Who are you talking to?” Cried Tulip, trying to wrap her head around this.

“Oh, I’d like you to meet my conscience – Koo, say hi Koo.”

“AH!” The three of them screamed aloud just as the bird turned around.

They couldn’t see it at first because the bird was hunched over but on his shoulder was a tiny scruffy little owl with large shiny yellow eyes and a sharp metal beak attached. And surprisingly the little creature was also wearing a little brown vest with a hilariously tiny golden monocle on his eyes stemming from the pocket.

The bird… also looked so damn ridiculous up close that it was actually a bit hilarious. Like the owl, his feathers were all over the place, scruffy and messy. He was sporting a shiny pair of extremely sharp and shiny metal talons underneath and on his face was a brilliant golden metal beak. Tulip was unsure whether it was just some sort of armor piece or it was actually his beak.

And then there was his face. Oh god, she couldn’t believe it, beneath that top hat were two black eye patches. Tulip just couldn’t figure out what kind of logic was able to convince him to put on two eye patches. If the magpie really was blind then shouldn’t a simple piece of cloth do the trick? This just served absolutely no purpose other than making him look like a gigantic idiot.

“Well now what do we have here?” Said the magpie, “… seriously, though, Koo do you mind telling me about them folks standing there, ‘cause I can’t see nothing.”

“Well,” the owl called Koo said in a really low masculine voice, “there’s a little girl, a dog, and a… a little ball.”

“A ball?”

“Hello there!” One-One waved its tiny little arms in joy.

“And apparently it talks, too,” said Koo.

“I can do all sorts of things, too,” said Glad-One cheerily, “do you want me to do some shadow puppets? I’m quite good at them.”

“Enough One-One,” Tulip cried, “look, we’re sorry to disturb you but… we really need to get off of this train car. So could you please help us get that door open, please?”

“What did she say?” The magpie asked.

“She’s asking for directions,” said Koo.

“Well then just give her some directions then.”

“We can’t just give them directions,” Koo told the big bird.

“What? Why not?”

“Because they don’t even know your name yet,” said Koo, “you’re telling me you would take directions from a stranger? Because I sure as heck wouldn’t.”

“Ah, good point. In that case, hello there, little boy, wolf and talking ball, my name is Krow, that’s Krow with a K there by the way. And we are the K-brothers.”

“Um, yeah, nice to meet you.”

“Tulip,” Atticus nudged her shin, “I’m not entirely sure if we should trust these fabulously dressed gentlemen, they don’t seem like the trustworthy type…”

“What? What did he say?”

“The dog said that they don’t trust us,” Koo said to Krow’s ears.

“The wolf said what? Well then, that’s not good now is it,” said Krow, “we ought to do something ‘bout that then. Have to gain their trust and all that.”

“How ‘bout we don’t do that,” muttered Koo, “because I don’t trust them either.”

“Ah, good point, in that case… fellas! I do apologize but I simply can’t help ya, my conscience wouldn’t allow it.”

“What?” Tulip and Atticus shouted, followed by Tulip stuttering, “… but… but… you gotta help us…”

“No can do little man,” said Krow, “I’ve got too much work to do as it is. Me conscience said to collect all these treasure, see?” The magpie yanked a gigantic leather bag over his shoulders, almost like a very cartoonish little thief, “Gotta do it quick. You know how we magpies are, we see them shiny things and we just have to take them.”

“First of all,” Tulip snapped at the bird, “the whole magpies stealing shiny things kinda deal is a myth, studies have shown evidence of them having neophobia, they can’t stand shiny stuff. And second of all, I have been trapped here on this train for far too long. I’m tired, I’m hungry, sometimes thirsty, mostly hungry, though… ah, it doesn’t matter, the point here is that I just really, REALLY want to get off of this stupid train, so please for the love everything good and pure in this sad miserable world, just please, please give us some stupid directions already…”

“KAW,” the big black bird squawked, extending its large pair of wings, “then why didn’t you say so? You should’ve said that sooner!”

And for that brief moment, Tulip felt like she had finally able to get used to the wacky insanity of this train. Things were finally going her way for a change. The girl sighed in relief:

“Thank you, now I was wondering about which direction…”

But the girl was unexpectedly cut off by Krow screeching at the owl:

“ _Why on earth didn’t you tell me magpies don’t really collect shiny things, huh?_ What in tarnation have I been doing all this time? You just had me going around collecting coins, going on a wild goose chase. What was that for?”

But the owl simply shrugged:

“Meh… I thought it’d be funny.”

“That right? We’ll see how funny it is when I claw out your eyeballs.”

“Huh, I thought you said you wanted to steal?”

“Ah, yeah, forgot ‘bout that… good point… he-he,” Krow muttered, “wait, who are we stealing from?”

“The train.”

“Huh, that seems counterintuitive, we live on this train,” said Krow, “how are we gonna use all these gold? Who do we sell them to?”

“Baby steps Krow,” Koo whispered into his ear, “baby steps.”

“ _Okay that’s it!”_ Tulip lashed out at the two, “You guys aren’t making any sense! _Just stop it!_ If neither of you can give us any directions then AT THE VERY LEAST tell us how to find the Conductor of this train.”

“What are you doing Tulip?” Atticus nudged at her leg, “We haven’t even found an exit to this place yet.”

“No, but at the very least we would know how to get some actual help around here,” said Tulip.

But unexpectedly, the moment was followed by the two crazy birds glaring at her with newfound tension. The owl stared with a gloomy pair of shiny eyes, like a ray of moonlight radiating onto her.

“Did…” Krow muttered to the owl, “… did she say… what I think she said?”

“Yeah… you heard her,” said Koo, “she wanted to see the Conductor.”

“Bah, you mean that traitorous bastard?” Asked Krow, “That no good son of a gun is as good as dead when I get my hands on that filthy white beard of his. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me so damn mad. I just want to wreck something now.”

“Relax, he ain’t here. No need to go all crazy now. Remember what happened last time you went ballistic? We almost fell off the train, and need I remind you that your wings have been messed up pretty badly?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute,” said Tulip, “clearly I’m missing something here. Why does everybody keep saying that the Conductor is this… this… horrible evil person? Who exactly is this Conductor?”

“ _You don’t know who the Conductor is?”_ Krow leaned over yelling at her face, she almost puked at the ‘scent’ of his breath.

“No, and should I?”

“That bastard’s the reason why I broke my wings ‘ere in the first place,” the magpie shouted in fury, “when I get my hands on that scoundrel Imma rip off his tail, wait for it to grow back _and I’ll do it all over again!_ We’ll see who gets the last laugh then.”

“That dastardly lizard is going to pay for sure,” the scruffy owl groaned.

“Wait hold on,” Tulip furrowed her brows, “the Conductor… is not human?”

“Human? No, not in a million years,” said Krow.

“You err… ever come across a train car full of nothing but sand?” Koo asked.

“Um, yeah. As a matter fact we just recently came from it. There was a little town there, too… if I remember correctly.”

“Well,” said Koo, “believe it or not, the sheriff of that godforsaken town is actually the one and only dastardly Conductor of this train.”

Tulip couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Just when she thought she had finally been able to get around the rules of this train, this strange dimension, it continued to rewrite its own rules and turn everything upside down into an incomprehensible mess that no sane person could possibly understand.

“Okay, no, no, no that’s…” the girl groaned, “that’s… that’s not possible. Klyde isn’t… a bad person.”

“With all due respect gentlemen,” said the little corgi king, “we just came out from that car after meeting the nice gecko people of that town, including the sheriff. He was a pleasant person who helped us on our journey, they even offered us a place to stay overnight. I just couldn’t possibly imagine how a pleasant person like him could possibly be this dishonest character you are painting him to be.”

“Did I mention that the Conductor is also one of the best liars in the world?” Said the owl, “Every single word that spews out of his disgusting dishonest mouth is just another lie. That reptilian bastard is manipulative, cold, calculating.”

“Okay, no, listen,” Tulip said, “Klyde himself warned us about the Conductor. If he really is the Conductor then why on earth would he go out of his way to warn us about… well, himself? He even told us what the Conductor looks like. He said, and I quote, ‘a guy with white hair wearing a coat’. Told me so himself.”

“And remind me,” said the Owl, raising an eyebrow, “what does Klyde ‘the Viper’ Bradshaw look like?”

“Well… let’s see, he wears this blue cowboy… coat, and um… has a white… beard… um…”

It suddenly hit her. No, it couldn’t be… could it? Let’s think about this for a sec, she told herself. What were the chances of this being the case? This train had proven many times that it had the capability of making sense out of the illogic, and turning what was logical into a messy pile that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Tulip did not know Klyde that well, she’d only heard stories of him from Judith. But what other secrets could that mysterious gecko be hiding? Could it be possible?

“Heed my warning,” said the owl, “the Conductor is someone who cannot be trusted. He is full of nothing but lies, dark and heinous lies.”

“Yeah, what he said,” said the magpie.

So in the end Tulip concluded that what those two birds were basically saying was to trust absolutely nobody on this goddamn never-ending train. She just… felt so exhausted of all of this, all this… madness. She just couldn’t take it anymore. She just wanted to go home, was that too much to ask?

But the ‘fun’ never stopped there.

“Well,” Koo adjusted his vest and his monocle, using his tiny little talon, he pulled out a tiny golden pocket watch, “now that we’re done talking, I suppose it’s time to get rid of all of you now.”

“WHAT?”

“Huh, really?” Krow said.

“Yeah, go nuts my K-brother,” said the little owl, a sudden darkness blanketed the two birds, making them look more sinister, “no hard feelings, but we just can’t have you go around telling everybody about what the two of us have been doing in here… a man just can’t steal in peace anymore these days.”

And just like that, the gigantic magpie drew its sharp talons from underneath. She could hear the razor-sharp sound of the metal clanking against one another.

Krow was vicious, you could see it in the owl’s eyes. They were full of murderous intent, shining red down beneath the bird’s massive shadows as they leapt above into the air and struck down like a furious arrow. Tulip managed to roll off, came within a hair’s breadth of losing her life. It sure did make her feel like the luckiest girl alive.

The mad bird did not stop there, he lunged himself after her. The girl immediately picked herself up, grabbed One-One, threw him in her bag and scurried off into the piles of treasure hoping that the confined space would be enough to throw the bird off balance. But it only made the magpie even crazier as he threw himself into the pile, knocking everything off balance and throwing it into a wave of golden avalanche.

“Come on, don’t be afraid,” Krow shouted frantically, “this won’t hurt… much!”

Tulip was extremely lucky that Krow’s wings were injured, he was a lot slower. Krow took another few swipes at the panicking girl, but his clumsy broken wings made it difficult to strike anything but the pile of gold coins.

“So, Miss Tulip, how about that obituary then?” Glad-One asked, “I don’t know about you but right now you look like you could really use one.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” said Tulip while panting, running for her life, “but a brief eulogy of my death wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

“Hooray,” Sad-One cheered in the grimmest tone possible.

“Don’t you dare give up so easily Tulip,” Atticus barked as they ran, “we’ve come so far now, we cannot just give up… not like this, not when we still have hope, hope that we will live and fight another day… for our family… _and for our kingdom!_ ”

The little dog roared with a rage of a warrior king. His spirit, his willpower was overwhelming for dog that measured just under two feet. A tiny little creature with a soul of a valiant hero. Atticus leapt with grace into the air, growling and barking, gritting his powerful teeth.

But alas, Krow was just too fast and too vicious of a creature. He was a monster; a berserk, lunatic monster. Although his wings were broken, he somehow was able to muster enough strength to knock Atticus aside into a large mountain of gold, splashing the coins everywhere.

“No! ATTICUS!” The girl yelled after the dog.

And with mighty fury, the insane magpie took another swing of his razor-sharp talons, one could hear loud and clear the sound of the metal striking in the air, the roaring of steel.

For the brief split second, Tulip could see her life flashing before her eyes. Everything that led up to this point, the steel claw of a monster, inches away from tearing her face apart. There was only one thing she could feel at this moment of panic – regret. She didn’t want it to end it like this, she still had so much unfinished business back home, there was no way she could die peacefully without resolving them. But looking at this scene before her, she could clearly tell that… it would take a miracle for her to come out of this alive.

… And yet…

An unseen force appeared out of thin air and was somehow strong enough to strike at Krow, knocking him off balance. The girl fell onto the ground, gaping in disbelief with her glasses nearly falling off of her face.

“Just marvelous,” Sad-One said, “how are we supposed to write that obituary now? Truly a sad day for humanity.”

For a brief moment, Tulip was thankful that she was allowed to live another day. But in retrospect, she might have celebrated a bit too soon. Once the smoke had cleared, she could now see that the thing that interrupted them was anything but good news.

That familiar feeling came back, the fear, the dread. The feeling that emerged when she encountered it in Corgidia. The face of burning blue fire.

This wasn’t like the monster she met in Corgidia. It didn’t have wires or tentacles, but instead a body of a mannequin with a layer of smooth milky skin, almost as if it was made out of porcelain. It was like a life-size doll, with a pair slim legs and arms, basically a body of a supermodel. This must be what the gecko folks called the Phantom People.

“Argh, no, not now!” Koo growled in frustration, “Get up Krow, get up damn it! Get us out of here now!”

“I think it’s a little late for that, Koo,” said the magpie.

And Krow wasn’t wrong, because before long the treasure room was filled to the brim with at least a dozen Phantom People, all with furious blazing blue flames burning behind their eyes.

“ _WARNING, WARNING, PASSENGER IN UNAUTHORIZED AREA.  PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT, OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IS YOUR SAFETY!”_

“Bah forget that, come on Krow, we’re not going down without a fight. You with me?”

“Heh, I thought you’d never ask,” said the magpie, raising his steel talons, taking another swipe at the Phantom People slicing the whole thing in half, leaving behind nothing but a trail of exploding blue flames and a bunch of electrical wires leaking out a stream of oil.

“ _Have at you, yer filthy slave robots! You’ll never take me alive!”_ The giant magpie screamed at the top of his lungs, “I move like the lightning, I strike like the thunder, I AM… AH, AH ARGH AH…”

Ironically, one of the Phantom People electrocuted the bird with a Taser wire fired from the palm of its hand. Krow instantly fell onto his knees, he was quickly apprehended by the other robots, wrapping their wires, their tentacles around the bird. Koo who tried to escape was also quickly captured by one of the bots.

“ _TARGET ACQUIRED – OBJECTIVE COMPLETE… RETURNING TO HOME DESTINATION.”_

The Phantom People never lost their composure, their faces were blank and emotionless throughout, maintaining their mystique. Tulip was fortunate that none of them managed to spot her hiding behind the piles of gold, they were too busy dragging Krow’s lifeless body across the floor and over to the door.

It somehow didn’t feel right, but Tulip again felt another stroke of good luck when she was able to grab her opportunity to observe the password being entered into the number pad by the door. 3 – 1 – 4 – 2. It all felt too… easy. It didn’t make any sense to her. But at that moment it didn’t matter, none of it really mattered, because the girl was just thankful that she managed to survive through that whole crazy scenario without a single scratch.

 

 

 

 

**_Back in the Sand car…_ **

“That’s the last of them,” said Zapp, “they won’t be bothering us no more… for now.”

Klyde holstered his revolvers, relieved that nobody in town was hurt. The town folks managed to find a small area over a hill of sand to make camp, it wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. The Phantom People had already taken over their town at this point if Zapp’s reports were anything to go by.

Klyde and Zapp had to deal with a couple of them on their way, but it wasn’t too troublesome. It seemed that the town would have to settle over here in this area for quite some time before they could move back in town, the problem was that none of them knew how long it would take until all of this blow over.

“Zapp,” Klyde called, “how ‘bout you go ahead and give me a head count, to make sure nobody’s left behind.”

“Got it!”

“I’ll go over there to check on our supplies, to make sure nothing’s missing, we’re going to need all the help we can get. Go! We haven’t got all day.”

“ _Why all the rush, KLYDE?”_

The gecko sheriff recognized that voice anywhere. The cold whispering of a young man. It was lethal, deadly but most important of all – it was the most soothing voice anyone could ask for. Anybody unfamiliar with the voice would’ve mistaken it for a voice of a friend. Of course, they would soon learn that that would be the last mistake they’d ever make.

And worst of all – was the excruciating sound of the trumpet.

“What the fudge are you doing here?” Klyde asked, “Don’t you have a freaking train to run or something?"

“ _Well, the train’s mostly self-regulating nowadays, I just let the Stewards do their thing… but you already know about that.”_

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy! What do you want?” Klyde asked in a serious tone.

“ _Oh my, Klyde, is that the tone you’d use to greet an old friend? I am appalled.”_

“You dare to call yourself my friend?” said Klyde, “After what you’ve done?”

“ _Ha-ha_ ,” the man chuckled, “ _you know full well that it had to be done. You forced my hands… I have to admit, though… you did come closer than anybody else on this train, almost gave me the run for my money. Key word here being ‘almost’. That number branded on your chest should be a reminder of that.”_

“I’m going to say this only once, and I want you to get it through your thick skull, GET – LOST.”

“ _Oh, sure, sure, I understand, I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll just show myself out… as long as you tell me where the girl is.”_

“I said get lost!”

“ _You can’t protect them forever, Klyde_ ,” said the man, “ _how many lambs must you sacrifice before you realize that all of this is pointless?”_

“I’ll never give up as long as I live! I’ll find a way to get off of this devilish train one way or another.”

“ _And at what cost? The girl will never make it, I doubt that she can even make it pass that one car where I keep my treasure stash. If Krow couldn’t make it then what chance does she have? ... Speaking of which, I can’t for the life of me remember where I left all my treasure stash… all the train cars look the same anyway. Ah, you know what? Forget it, I’m sure I’ll remember it eventually.”_

“Are you done mumbling to yourself you weirdo?” Said Klyde, “If you are then do me a favor and get your butt off of my train car before I pump some lead into your miserable scrawny little body."                           

The young man sighed:

“ _I beg to differ, Klyde. Don’t get me wrong, I still think very highly of you because you are my friend, but the fact of the matter is that you still gave me a hell of a lot of trouble the last time we fought. And for that I simply cannot let you go scot-free…”_

The Conductor stared into the distance where the townspeople were, and that was when Klyde understood what he meant by that.

“If you even dare to lay a single finger on a single one of them good people of MY town, then I’m going to rip your stupid head off and shove this revolver down your throat.”

But the Conductor simply laughed:

“ _No… no you won’t…”_ Klyde could smell the blue fire from here, “ _it’s best to not engage the Stewards in combat old friend. They can be rather aggressive if… provoked.”_


	4. Sea You Later

“AHHH! Please, I beg you, if you still value our ‘ _friendship_ ’ one bit, please for the love of god shut the hell up with that stupid trumpet of yours!” Klyde growled while covering his ears.

“ _Respect the classics old friend, respect the classics. People these days just don’t appreciate some good ol’ Jazz music anymore.”_

 _“_ Oh, I appreciate good music, alright. But what you’re playing is not Jazz, it’s not even music,” said the gecko, “it’s a sound of a regurgitating cat repeatedly scratching on a gigantic porcelain plate. It’s horrible!”

“ _Ha, you’re just mad that I am a musical genius while you’re just another tasteless plebeian. But enough about this now. What I want to know is how on earth did a 12 year old girl manage to escape a train car WHICH I specifically made to be locked up tighter than the Pharaoh’s tomb.”_

“Don’t look at me. It’s not my fault that you’re too incompetent to run this train.”

“ _Don’t play games with me old friend… this train car is my treasure stash, I made sure that nobody would be able to get the password to the car besides me. See… here, see this coin here?_ ”

“Yes, you told me this before,” said Klyde, “you always carry around that stupid coin of yours.”

“ _Exactly! It is impossible for anybody to get their hands on this, much less a child. Steward! Report… tell me what happened to the girl.”_

“ _ANALYZING… FINALIZING DATABASE… ERROR – ERROR – DATABASE CONFLICT DETECTED – UPDATING… ADDING NEW VARIABLES… ANALYSIS COMPLETE – SUBJECT TULIP HAS ESCAPED DURING NIGHT PATROL AT 11:32 PM ON THE 1 st OF MARCH.”_

_“Hmm… the same time that Krow was apprehended….I see… of course, she must’ve escaped by observing the Stewards entering the password… clever girl.”_

“Tell me again, what happened to the whole ‘only I know the password’ thing?”

“ _Keep that up and I’ll throw you under the bus.”_

“You mean throw me in front of the train? Wouldn’t that be a lot more painful?”

“ _No, no, bus, haven’t you heard the expression? Ah, doesn’t matter… Steward, where is the girl now?”_

_“PLEASE STAND BY, SCANNING… SCANNING… SUBJECT IS CURRENTLY IN TRAIN CAR ID# F237.89.”_

_“Ugh… the fish people…”_

“Fish people?” Klyde asked.

“ _Yeah… I’d rather not see them right now. They can be rather… difficult to deal with.”_

 

 

 

 

“This is all your fault One-One!” Tulip cried.

“Yay, it’s my fault.”

“That’s not really a good thing,” said Sad-One.

“Oh…”

“If you hadn’t stuck around in this stupid bounce house for so long then we wouldn’t have lost those robots who took Krow away.”

“Please, Tulip,” barked Atticus, “I beg you, calm down, overreacting won’t do us any good… besides… this car isn’t really that bad now is it?”

A bounce house… who would’ve guessed? It was bouncy and it had all the colors in the entire world, red, blue, yellow you name it. There were gigantic slides everywhere, at least eight feet tall. There were even a bunch of animals made out of the same kind of rubber material, apparently they were sentient, but most likely just an AI of sort. A bouncy rubber cow, a bubbly little chicken, even a pig – all bouncing around all over the place as if the sky was falling.

She kept wondering what kind of a mad man would build this ridiculous train in the first place.

There was a lot of conflicting details. Klyde – who couldn’t have been the Conductor… but the description fitted like a glove. But why would Klyde lie to them?

‘ _Don’t even try to outsmart him.’_  He once said… was he playing mind games with her? … It was possible. If the Conductor really was so smart that he couldn’t be outsmarted that what was to say that Klyde wasn’t using some sort of twisted reverse psychology?

But it didn’t matter now, because it was time to move on to the next car.

It was quite curious, though. There was a ‘wet floor’ sign placed right in front of the door to the next car… even though the ground was dryer than the Mojave Desert.

Atticus tried sniffing at the sign to see if there was anything odd. But he shook his head, it was just a regular sign.

“Aw,” Glad-One said, “I was really hoping for a waterslide.”

But Tulip suddenly had a bad feeling about this, a hunch building up inside… and that hunch was pretty much correct in its prediction once she swung open the door.

It startled her for a moment – a wall of water staring down at her, the entire whole train car was flooded all the way up to the ceiling. She could’ve sworn that the water was going to crash down onto her. But no… the water stood there like some sort of exotic aquarium. It was quite murky, making it a bit difficult to see far ahead.

Tulip was hesitant at first, she’d never seen anything like this before. It defied logic and physics. How something like this could just stand still in mid-air without crashing down was beyond her. She tried reaching out to touch the wall of water, and it was even murkier than she originally thought. Her hand didn’t even go anywhere pass two feet and it was already near impossible to make out the details of her palm.

“By thunder, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Atticus.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“Well, this is no waterslide, but I guess it’ll have to do,” said Glad-One as he instantly plunged himself into the dark wall of water.

“ONE-ONE!” Tulip cried.

But just as she reached out her hand trying to stop One-One, the girl realized that there was something odd about the water here. One-One was swimming in the water, it was hard to see but he was definitely still there. Swimming and unharmed.

This gave her a strange feeling… perhaps there wasn’t anything dangerous in the water after all.

“I’m right behind you Tulip,” Atticus nodded his head.

 

 

 

 

And once again this infinity train continued to baffle her tiny little mind. She was breathing – actually breathing normally underwater. There was no side effects, no need to breathe any differently, no nothing. The murky water was all around them and yet Tulip could not feel any of it weighing down her movements, it was just as if she was still walking on land. They could even continue talking to each other out loud, too. It felt like a floating dream, it was really surreal letting this wall of dark liquid caress them. It did briefly give Tulip the idea of all of this being nothing but a dream, oh but how cliché that would be if it was true.

“Curious, isn’t it,” said Atticus while swimming awkwardly around, paddling with his tiny little feet.

“This… this is incredible,” said Tulip, “I wonder how on earth did the Conductor build this… this… this is amazing. Imagine all the real world application with this type of technology. We could explore the sea, explore the deep uncharted waters. It could really solve problems with overpopulation as well. Not to mention all the aquaculture…”

“Hmm… fascinating,” said Atticus, “you simply must tell me more of this… aquaculture thing.”

“Um… I’m not sure you’d be into that sort of thing. I’d always figured it was more of a… um… feline thing, ya know… bah, you know what? Forget about it, we better go find One-One before he gets himself stuck in a water pipe or something.”

“Knowing that little robot I’d say he’s  _already_  gotten stuck somewhere,” fortunately for all of them One-One was just swimming in a carefree manner just a few feet away.

The whole train car was still pretty dark and gloomy, they couldn’t make out any of the details surrounding them. Nothing but a thick layer of underwater fog.  All they could do was kept on swimming.

“Just keep floating, just keep floating, just keep floating, floating, floating…”

“Don’t you mean swimming, One-One?” Tulip asked.

“Nope, I might get in trouble if I say that,” said Glad-One, “… I wonder if this is what the fish see underwater… ooh, ooh, which reminds me, if we can’t see air when we walk on land does that mean that fish can’t see water when they’re swimming?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Said Tulip, “Of course they… um… err… I mean obviously the fish… um… err… I mean… bah, you know what? That’s a stupid question anyway, so I’m not even gonna bother.”

“I like fish,” Sad-One moaned.

“Me too,” Glad-One said, “the overwhelming savory taste of the meat, the scent of fresh sea salt just… just splashing in your tongue is just… transcendent.”

“I don’t think robots like you have a mouth, much less a tongue,” said Tulip.

“Of course we don’t have a mouth now,” said Glad-One, “but oh how we do miss those days when we did have a mouth to chew and teeth to bite with.”

“What?” Cried Tulip, she wasn’t sure of what she’d heard, “What do you mean by that?”

“What else?” Glad-One said, “You didn’t think that we were always a tiny little round robot now did you?”

“As a matter of fact I did,” said the girl, “I only start questioning the notion when you brought it up. So let me get this straight, what you’re saying is that… you… um… used to be… human?”

“Indeed,” Sad-One said,  followed by Glad-One saying, “a 13 feet tall man with a body skinnier than a wooden stick that was rotting under the sun for a month. Oh how we miss the days when we could jump over the rainbows and waterfalls with just a single leg stretch soaring straight into the sky while tasting the salt in the water, the moisture in the air… that  _IS_  what normal humans do… right?”

“I have a feeling that you guys are just messing with me at this point,” said the girl with an exhausted look on her face, tired of their shenanigans. But she must admit that the ridiculous statement One-One said did manage a little giggle out of her.

“I’m still having a hard time imagining how on earth you two met each other in the first place,” said Atticus, “I just can’t help but think that it’s something that could only happen once the planets align.”

“Believe me,” Tulip laughed, “the planets really did align that day. It’s a really long story.”

“Well we’ve got time haven’t we? Tell me about it.”

“Well…”

“Hey, what’s that over there?” One-One pointed beyond the murky water.

It was still rather dark but there was certainly something there in the distance.

“Is that…”

Suddenly, out of nowhere a gigantic foggy shadow lunged itself towards the three of them, it was as big as a boulder and as fast as a speeding bullet soaring through the air, roaring with strength and might of a steaming locomotive (it was the first thing that came into her mind, must’ve been reading too much comics).

“WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT THING?” Tulip shouted. But she was not prepared to find out the answer to that question.

Emerging from the shadowy wall of liquid – a gigantic shark; with teeth sharper than blades and eyes as empty as the eyes of the deceased.

“RUN!”

They scurried off into the distance through the layers of these murky waters, they didn’t even know where they were going, but it didn’t matter, because all they wanted that moment was to get as far away from this terrible monstrosity as possible… which proved to be quite a difficult task to do because the damn shark was just too fast. The three of them didn’t even manage to go anywhere pass five yards before the monster circled in front of them.

“Finally,” Sad-One muttered in the girl’s ear, “the sweet release of death. I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire whole life.”

… And of course… just like always… Fate enjoyed favoring practically anybody but One-One.

Piercing through the water above them like an angelic force of the apocalypse mentioned in old scriptures. It came like a warrior in myths and legends, mere moments after the shrieks of the defenseless commoner in the typical fairy tale… there, mightier than the mightiest stallion, fiercer than the fiercest warrior. In just a mere split second – the shark had already been immobilized. One could stare into its eyes and see whatever empty soul that once inhabited this creature was no more.

Tulip sighed in relief before looking up above to meet her savior. It was all too familiar. A shadow of a mighty horse roamed across the seafloor.

But upon closer inspection, Tulip realized that it wasn’t a horse – but a seahorse.

A curious creature indeed, it stood at about seven feet tall with orange scales as hard as a dragon and as shiny as the shiniest of gems. It was wearing a large golden helmet reminiscent of ancient Greek soldiers. It also wore a large bulky breastplate while brandishing a long sharp halberd that was even shinier than diamonds, truly a weapon crafted by a genius blacksmith. There it stood in the light… like a hero, an ancient warrior.

The seahorse spoke softly with an angelic voice:

“Fear not, for I am here. With my blade sharpened and my helm secured, no evil foe shall stand in my way. Young travelers near and far will never fear these dark waters again, monsters far and wide will taste the glory of my steel for I, Olympia the Fierce will vanquish all those who do the devil’s work.”

“Oh gosh, why do I have the feeling that I’ve seen this somewhere before,” Tulip whispered to herself.

“Greetings, wandering travelers,” said Olympia the seahorse, “what mighty gusts and powerful streams brought you fine folks here to this majestic city of  _Atlantis?_ ”

“What?” Tulip’s eyeballs almost popped out of her sockets, she could barely form the right words, “did you… did… d… did you… you just say… Atlantis?”

“Why yes my dear,” said the seahorse, “indeed I did. I mean, what kind of a queen would I be if I don’t even know my own kingdom?”

Her body was shaking in shock, with hands vibrating and rapid breathing as if she was about to die. The train sure did know how to make fun of its passengers. Tulip had a feeling that the Conductor was some kind of twisted jester that liked to turn everything on its head just for some laughs. But Atlantis of all places…

“That’s it,” she said, “it’s official, I’m turning mad… mad… surrounded by other mad… crazy creatures…”

“Hush now child,” Atticus suddenly told her, “we must not disrespect our savior, and to be welcomed into a magnificent kingdom like this… truly, the greatest honor a dog could ever hope to have.”

“I am grateful for your kind words little dog man,” said Olympia, “as Queen and protector of the deep sea realm of ancient myths, I hereby welcome you with open arms to my golden kingdom of ATLANTIS.”

 

 

 

 

Tulip couldn’t believe it, there was simply no way any of this could be true. Every ounce of logic in her body refused to believe it. But like some kind of omniscient god, the train continued to take pages and ideas from fictional realms, mythical realms and shove it into her face, as if mocking her.

It was quite difficult to see it from afar due to the thick layer of the murky water, but once you get close enough you’d start to see the light shining in the distance. A hypnotic ray of warm glow in the darkness, it was mesmerizing.

You could see the massive majestic white marble columns of the underwater palace rising from the ocean’s depth, it stood like a mountain – a mountain that at the same time was surrounded by the ruins and rubbles of what was once grand, just like poor old Ozymandias the self-proclaimed king of kings whose kingdom was buried beneath the sand, this one was buried beneath the oceans and the myths. Nobody believed Atlantis was real, nobody could believe it, and thus from afar you could see the crumbling stones of the golden palace… crumbling all because nobody believed this kingdom existed.

But the sound of the horns they heard was real, swimming towards it they could hear it echoing from afar. But Tulip found it difficult to spot where the sound was coming from, it was as if everybody around was invisible.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” said Olympia, “through many wars that we have fought, where countless lives we have lost, with these destructions that it had brought, and the planes of sorrows we have crossed. But through it all we have survived, on our strong will and raging warrior spirits and in the end… we succeeded in defending our glorious kingdom.”

“You sure do like to speak in… ahem… poetic ways…” said Tulip, “sure does remind me of someone I know.”

“Well, if that’s the case then I would love to meet this fellow comrade of yours some time,” the seahorse said.

“Well, his name is Fredrick, he’s a… um, a horse that I met in this train car a while back and…”

“FREDRICK?” Olympia suddenly snapped, “You mean Fredrick the Third, Noble Steed of the West?  _THE_ Fredrick the Third?”

“Um… yeah… why?”

But then a sudden look of fury flared in Olympia’s eyes:

“The problem… is that Fredrick – that cursed horse is this kingdom’s longest, most terrible and vicious enemy of the state. He is a crooked man – with a crooked heart – that’s what he is. His kingdom of black and white soldiers and my kingdom of valiant sea folks used to engage in combat and wars back in the day. Oh how terrible it was, many lives were lost that day, many good men died in vain… all because of his stubbornness, that horse would rather lose all his soldiers before he admits defeat.”

“So you two have a history together huh?” Tulip asked, “… That… actually explains a lot… especially the whole poetry thing,” she muttered to herself.

“Well I for one respect your pride and warrior spirit,” said Atticus, “it is most admirable that you would go to such length to protect not only your national pride but also this magnificent kingdom of yours as well. I wholeheartedly bless you and wish you luck in your future battles with your enemies.”

“I from the bottom of my heart thank you for your kind words, your majesty,” said Olympia.

“What on earth are you doing Atticus?” Tulip whispered furiously, “Are you  _trying_ to trigger a war?”

“Come now, Tulip,” said the corgi, “how could you not see the power and spirit oozing from these mighty warriors? It is most commendable.”

“But what have Fredrick ever done to you?”

“Nothing in particular that offended me, but I still have to join the winning side regardless. That’s the secret to politics,” Atticus winked at her while wagging his tail.

“Hooray,” Glad-One cheered, “hooray to genocidal warfare and conflicts.”

“Now that’s the spirit,” Olympia shouted, “Come now, friends… let me show you the power of my people in my humble home.”

It was only when they’d gotten closer to the golden palace did Tulip finally notice all the underwater sea creatures emerging from the murky water. It was like something straight out of a sci-fi TV show, a bunch of yellow fish with their little human arms and legs crawling out from beneath a pile of crumbling stones, their faces were full of wrinkles and dried up scales.

Then on the other side there were a bunch of red skin sharks with webbed feet crawling around like a bunch of frogs, they even had large yellow eyes full of mucus popping out of the side. Tulip even saw a bunch of tadpoles with bat-like wings floating around the place like a horde of oversized flies or something. And of course there was a whole plethora of other queer creatures that looked like something only Frankenstein could’ve crafted. Truly a sci-fi B-movie horror, only difference was that on this train – these things were considered normal.

“ _Citizens of Atlantis!_ ” the seahorse echoed her voice through the kingdom, “You may all rejoice in utmost… um… joy… yes joy, for I Olympia the Fierce your queen has returned to this glorious kingdom from the epic battlefield.” The seahorse bowed down, ready to receive the thunderous applause.

Unfortunately it was a pretty weak crowd, all of them stared into the blank space above for at least five seconds before they produced one of the weakest clap Tulip had ever heard in her entire whole life. Oh how this must’ve been so embarrassing – Tulip could strangely relate.

From behind the crowd there was also a weak cough that sounded suspiciously like sarcasm.

“What was that?” Olympia hissed at the crowd. She scanned through the school of fish and spotted a nervous looking old octopus with dark blue skin – who apparently had human hands on each of his tentacle.

“Um… uh, nothing,” said the octopus, “I didn’t say nothing.”

“It sounded to me like you said something along the line of ‘ _this is boring’_  or ‘ _why do I have to be here’_ or… something like that,” Olympia said with deadly suspicion.

“No, no,” the octopus stuttered, “no, my queen, I swear to our Lord and Savior the Conductor, I did no such foolish sin.”

“Well, alright then, I believe you.”

The octopus sighed in relief.

“Which is why I’m going to execute you.”

“WHAT?!” Both Tulip and the old octopus shouted.

“Oh this is going to be good,” Glad-One said.

“Wait no, milady, you’ve got it all wrong, I did no such thing, please forgive my foolishness, I’m sure our Lord Conductor will be merciful on my poor soul and… and…”

“Say no more, plebeian,” Olympia decided, “GUARDS! Send this poor unfortunate soul to the DEEP END.”

“NO, not the deep end!” Cried the old creature, “Anything but that!”

“It has already been decided,” said the seahorse queen, “The will of Olympia is the will of our Lord Conductor, now begone with thee.”

And in just a split second, two enormous seahorses clad in black iron plate armor rushed down like a whirlpool and swept the old octopus away into the distance.

“NO, NO, LET ME GO, THE GOVERNMENT IS A LIE, LIFE IS AN ILLUSION, ATLANTIS ISN’T REAL, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR IS DEAD, SHARK OIL CAN’T MELT MARBLE COLUMNS…”

The scene left Tulip in complete shock with her face stuck with that jaw dropping expression with all the aggressive eye twitching. Meanwhile, One-One stood on her shoulder laughing:

“Ha ha, now that’s what I call quality entertainment, right Miss Tulip?”

“What was that for?” Tulip yelled at the queen, “did… did you just kill that guy?”

“Oh good heavens no,” said Olympia, “that is so barbaric, we don’t do such things. Old Jack will probably be back in a week or so… or he won’t…”

“He won’t… what?”

“Let’s not get into the details,” said the queen, “but why do you show such… interest in this matter? You seemed worked up about this.”

“Well… it’s just…” the girl started playing around with her hands, trying to find the right words, “… um… it’s just that… where I come from… we aren’t usually… um… this extreme… most of the time…”

“Goodness gracious,” cried Olympia, “what backward savages you must be, you’re telling me that your society does not worship a higher being and do their bidding? You don’t make enormous statues for your Lord above?”

“No… no, that’s not what I meant… but while we’re on the subject, I suppose we sometimes do… but just not like this.”

“How so?”

“Well… usually we don’t make statues of people who could be… ahem… a bad example for the people. Your Lord Conductor for example… I have been hearing a lot about him, lately… and not a lot of them are good things.”

“Oh no you’ve got it all wrong child,” said Olympia, “The Conductor isn’t a bad person. Anybody that paints him as such is a victim of Fredrick the Third’s vicious and twisted lies, oh how that terrible horse keeps spreading such asinine claims, it makes my blood boil.”

“Um… hate to break it to ya,” Tulip said, “I’ve met Fredrick, and he said that the Conductor was a good guy, he helped his people and all that…”

“Nonsense, child,” Olympia said, “he may have been a follower in the past, but now he’s nothing but a lowly infidel and um… bah, you know what? The point here is that my kingdom is the only way of righteousness, the only way to salvation by ways of our Lord Conductor. Behold, bask in the glory of the statues we made as tribute to his mighty will!”

Olympia directed her attention to the hall in the middle of the kingdom where a colossal marble statue stood in the center. It was huge, at least 20 meters tall and it was as bulky as a gigantic mountain. However, the queerest thing about the statue was that it didn’t really look like Klyde, as the matter of fact, it didn’t even look like a train conductor, it looked more like a stick figure – it had no facial features, no fingers, toes, no nothing. And with that information Tulip was able to deduce pretty easily why it had no recognizable features.

“Okay, okay, I think I know what’s going on here,” said Tulip, “so let me get this straight, you people… don’t even know what the Conductor looks like… and yet you build a statue of him in the middle of your kingdom?”

“Well… ahem… ha-ha,” Olympia laughed nervously, “it’s not as bad as you made it sound.”

“You see that’s exactly the problem with you people,” Tulip said. The girl had had enough, so she made a huge step forward towards the people, as if standing in front of a podium making a speech:

“Are you people seriously just gonna keep blindly following your leader to do whatever she wishes in the name of the so called Lord Conductor? Do you want to end up like that old octopus at the Deep End? Is that what you want?”

“Well…” a fish spoke from the crowd, “it’s all we’ve been doing our entire lives, what else are we going to do?”

“Um I have a suggestion, how about something like, oh I don’t know, a society where you actually make your own decisions as individuals? Because that seems like way more fair and productive if you ask me,” said Tulip.

The crowd started whispering to each other, some fish started pacing to and fro while discussing, “ _well she does have a point… yeah… that seems reasonable.”_

“A society where people make choices as individuals?” Olympia said, scratching her chin thinking, “Now this is a concept that I have not heard of.”

“From where I come from,” Tulip said, “we call it a democracy.”

“ _Democracy? … What’s that… that doesn’t sound half bad… can we eat it? … Do we get benefits? …”_

 _“_ But now hold on a minute,” said Olympia, “wouldn’t this mean that we’d have to abandon our old ways of living? Our old lives?”

“Well, not necessarily,” Tulip answered, “you see that’s the beauty of democracy, the beauty of freedom, you can do whatever it is you want… err… as long as it doesn’t harm others… and all that.”

“Hmm…” Olympia scratched her helm with her halberd before she finally let them in on her final thoughts, “this idea… this idea here… is… absolutely… BRILLIANT, absolutely without a doubt the best idea I’ve ever heard in a long time. Right then, let me just make an announcement…  _Hear ye, hear ye,_  citizens of Atlantis, heed my words, for I am pleased to announce that our backward ways of politics and governance by the will of our Lord and Savior Conductor shall be put to rest – for a new age has arrived, a wonderful new age of this um… uh… DEMOCRACY! So rejoice my dear citizens, REJOICE!”

 

 

 

 

As gratitude for Tulip’s great service for the kingdom, she was rewarded with many riches and wealth from ancient Atlantis gold to clothes and garments of many kings and queens of the past. They treated her like an empress, an honorable guest among the tables of their high class banquet where they served her meals and dishes with such extravagance and exotic flavors that she did not even know existed.  Truly a shiny memory that she will not be able to get out of her head even if she wanted to, it managed to put a silly grin on the young girl’s face.

“Well that was certainly… easier than I thought,” Atticus said while at the table, licking and gobbling at his plate full of dog treats, “these folks are a lot easier to be influenced than I originally imagined, or maybe it was just your excellent skill of persuasion.”

“Aw, you’re flattering me Atticus,” said Tulip.

“No, I mean it, you really did an absolutely magnificent job in helping these people.”

“I just thought to help out a little bit ya know, these people just seemed so miserable. I just couldn’t stand by watching without doing anything about it.”

“Although now that you think about it,” Sad-One said on her shoulder, “it does seem a little bit… too easy.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Tulip.

“I just feel that there are certain things in the natural order of things that should not be… meddled with.”

“Oh, come on One-One don’t be silly, I did these people a favor. Honestly, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“All I’m saying is in life, misery and agony is not something you can easily get rid of, it requires efforts and sacrifices… this misery you’ve gotten rid of… more will bound to follow.”

“Yeah well,” Tulip grinned, “just you wait and see, I’m going to prove you wrong… so wrong. I mean look around you. Look how much thing’s changed for the better ever since I introduced them to the idea of democracy. They’ve started to industrialize, more infrastructures is being built, heck, I’ve even helped them build more statues of Klyde around the place. Apparently these people really  _love_  their gecko Lord and Savior, gecko cowboy figurines have been pretty popular lately.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Glad-One pointed towards the entrance where a white jellyfish came floating in, panting like his lungs were about to explode violently.

“My queen!” He shouted, “Milady!”

“Yes, what is the matter dear Hector, speak up.”

“My queen, trouble is brewing in the kingdom.”

“Impossible, we are in a time of peace, our kingdom is flourishing. What could possibly be causing us trouble?”

“I suggest you take a look for yourself.”

And would you believe it… things really did go south really, REALLY quickly after the whole debacle.

“See for yourself my queen,” Hector said, “the shark people have been using their opportunities in this new found freedom of our society to declare a coup against the government and those in power, namely the royal family, your family my queen.”

“Good heavens.”

“And then the tadpole tribe has been declaring anarchy amongst their people as well, they said that as of this moment they are no longer a member of the royal council.”

“What? They can’t do that!” Tulip cried.

“Well, isn’t that how this whole… ‘ _democracy’_  thing works? Where people are free to choose to do whatever they please?”

“NO!” Tulip angrily shouted, “That’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works… I mean… the concept is sorta… I mean I suppose you could… no, what am I saying? No, this is wrong! You have to have some… some order…”

“Couldn’t make up your mind huh Tulip?” Sad-One asked, “I know the feeling.”

“Not now One-One, I’m trying to think here.”

“Tulip, calm down,” Atticus tried to reassure her, “all is not lost yet, you just need to think this through. Surely there must be a solution to this.”

“You’re right, you’re right…” she took a deep breath and exhaled, “I just need to calm down… and think of some way to deal with this. We still have time to correct this.”

“That is of course – assuming the seahorse queen isn’t going to do something rash like use her military force to apprehend the citizens – then everything should be fine.” Glad-One said.

“You mean like how the queen is fighting the guerrilla fighters right this moment?” Sad-One asked.

“Exactly!”

“Wait, WHAT?”

Before any of them could even react, the seahorse queen, her seahorse squadron and royal brethren had already charged down the steps of their majestic palace onto the battleground brandishing their steel – the swords, maces and axes, swinging them at the nearest target, grunting like a berserk warrior.

“No, no, no, no, this is all my fault, I never should’ve… no, what am I saying? … This can’t be happening. I … I’ve got to fix this.”

And without even thinking, the redhead girl launched herself through the water and through the warzone, trying her best to avoid any of their weapons flying towards her. Countless arrows and spears suddenly soared through the water, piercing at anything it could find.

She finally managed to swim through the barrage of projectiles and fire storm that roamed the water in the battle. Fortunately there was a small platform nearby just tall enough for her to stand and shout out to get their attention.

“EVERYBODY, STOP FIGHTING!” Fortunately that deafening shout was enough to get their attention.

“Why must you all resolve everything with violence like this?” She hollered.

“How else are we going to solve all our problems?” One of them yelled from the crowd.

“Well not everything is solved by violent or… or oppressive government ya know, how about if… I don’t know… if you try to… to be nice for a change.”

The fish folks gasped in shock, “ _you can do that?”_

“Yes, YES, thank you random citizen,” Tulip laughed, finally getting to them, “you know… an old… an old friend once told me that you don’t have to be out there trying to change the world every day… because… well because what really matters is… is just the small things, small act of kindness… you just need to start small, starting building from the bottom up…”

It looked like it was working, the shark folks were exchanging gazes amongst themselves while smiling, they must’ve thought that it was not such a bad idea. The yellow fish, the tadpoles where pacing about as well, and one could overhear their conversation, seemingly agreeing with the notion. Tulip started to rejoice internally because all that was left was to seal the deal:

“So what do you say we just lay down all of our weapons on a nice little pile and forget that any of this ever happened…”

“ _Or, or I have a better idea_ ,” one of the fish people said, “How ‘bout, how ‘bout… we don’t do that… and we just get back to fighting each other over our petty differences.”

“I second this notion.”

“All those in favor of waging endless and pointless warfare say aye!”

“Aye.”

“ _Aye.”_

“AYE.”

“No! What are you people doing?” Tulip cried, “That’s not what I… this… no stop!”

“FOR THE GLORY OF ATLANTIS!” And just like that the fish people went back to their primitive ways of savage battles just to resolve their trivial differences.

“ _As the sole ruler of the kingdom of Atlantis, I Queen Olympia the Fierce now declares fascism as the new system of governance, in the name of freedom and DEMOCRACY! HAVE AT YOU!”_

“They’re not even listening to me,” Tulip groaned in frustration, “you know what? Forget this, I’m not even going to be bothered anymore, I’m out! Anybody who wants to join me are welcomed to… the door is probably in this direction somewhere… I swear on my life… I’ll never meddle with these sorts of things ever again, and no, One-One I don’t need you to lecture me about how you ‘ _told me so’_.”

“I really do hate to say it,” said Glad-One, “but I  _told you so, ha-ha!”_

Her eyes twitched in frustration, “I’ll never understand politics.”

“Tulip, hold on a moment,” Atticus barked after her.

“What, Atticus?” She snapped.

“Tulip… are you… giving up already?”

“Yes Atticus, I’m giving up, because these people are just mindless fools that can’t think for themselves. And  _you_ , you of all people… you were part of the problem, too you know that? If you hadn’t complimented Olympia – like the pompous high class snob you two are – then none of this would’ve happened. Now come on! Are you coming or what? I haven’t got all day, we’re still nowhere near the front of the train yet and I’ve wasted enough time in this stupid underwater car.”

Atticus whimpered in fear, but just a bit. Because he was king, the adorable little corgi was too prideful to show any of those emotions. And yet… those words still hurt his brave golden heart, but he did not fully understand why. The only explanation he could come up with was that he did not expect such cruel words… coming from someone whom he had trusted.

All they could do now was keep moving forward…

 

 

 

 

Olympia started laughing nervously, because she knew right then that all the crud was about to hit the fan. She thought to herself: what do you know, there really is a Lord Conductor watching us from above… what are the odds?

“ _Okay, let me get this straight, I was gone for a mere three days, and during that period of time you people have already declared totalitarianism? … Wow… I mean… wow, not going to lie, that’s actually pretty impressive. I mean, I’m not even mad, that’s incredible.”_

“Are you going to keep being an annoying snarky son of a gun?” Klyde asked.

“ _Hey I gotta give credit where credit’s due, this calls for a celebration, I’ll grab my trumpet.”_

 _“_ Don’t you even dare! I’ve had enough of you blasting your awful music by my ear all day long.”

“ _So you ADMIT that it really was music after all, ha-ha, jackpot! I win again, I win again! Alright, enough goofing around, now Olympia my dear… you realize that you have a lot of questions that you need to answer don’t you?”_

“Yeah, first question is why the heck is there a bunch of statues that look suspiciously like me?” Klyde asked, pointing at all the giant white sculptures of a cowboy gecko.

“He-he…” the seahorse queen laughed nervously, “… you see… it’s long story… a funny one, too.”

“ _Pray tell, I do love a good laugh.”_

“Well, um… you see, you’re going to like this I can tell,” Olympia stammered, “… ahem… yes… um… err… err… it… it was… a girl…”

But surprisingly, the sound that they heard was not that of anger or rage… but laughter.

“ _Ha HA ha-ha, HA ha-ha ha HA-ha.”_

It prompted the seahorse queen to force a weak laugh out of herself, letting her guard down – and of course, just like many victims before her, it proved to be the last mistake she was ever going to make.

One moment the Conductor had his arm wrapped around her shoulder as if she was his good friend, the next he was grabbing her by her plate armor and effortlessly tossed her to the side where a gargantuan yellow bus came charging out of nowhere like it was a battering ram pushed by a dozen angry bulls. The impact shook the entire car as the yellow bus furiously rammed the seahorse off into the murky water where it was never seen again.

“CHEESE AND CRACKERS! Wha… what in tarnation… why the heck did you do that? Did you just kill Olympia?”

“ _Oh no, Klyde, old friend, I would never do such a thing. Olympia will probably be back in a week or so… or she won’t.”_

 _“_ Won’t what?”

“ _Let’s not get into the details. It was mostly her fault anyway.”_

“HOW?”

“ _Well, I never asked her or her people to wage wars against one another… the pain of being an overseer, one moment you tell them to be nice to each other, the next they started building statues of you and impose dictatorship on its people. Ha-ha, kinda funny if you think about it… but anyway, back to the important business… and by important I mean that we should get the heck out of this place as fast as we can.”_

“Why?” Klyde asked.

“ _Let’s just say that… ahem… the murky water here… isn’t 100 percent… water. You can feel it in your palm – the greasy liquid, the oily fluids. Ooh, yeah we better bail out of here quick, ‘cause in a minute this place is going to light up like it’s Mt. Vesuvius, oh I can't wait to watch all this unfolds, it’s gonna be a blast!”_


	5. Iron Memory

Tulip’s dad had always told her to be tactful and considerate to those around. Which was something that she found hard to uphold back there in that underwater car. She could still see Atticus’ somber look on his face. She never meant to hurt the little corgi.

“Atticus… I… um,” the girl hesitated.

But the four of them continued walking on in this awkward state of silence. Atticus didn’t so much as make a whimper. And the same thing went for One-One, strangely enough. Tulip was slightly uncomfortable with the robots’ silence.

“Alright, what’s going on here?” She whispered to One-One. “Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?”

“I’m exhausted that’s all,” Sad-One said. “We haven’t slept in a while now.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying that one bit. You’re a robot, you don’t need sleep.”

“Well we can’t really help it now can we?” Glad-One said, “It’s hard to be happy with you being so down for the past couple hours or so. Really sucks the life out of me, and boy let me tell you – that has  _never_  happened before.”

“He’s right Tulip.”

Tulip spun her head, and instantly she felt a surge of relief flying through her nerves.

“No point in moping around and not saying another word about it,” the little corgi said with a slight grin. “Let’s keep on going forward now.”

And that was all Tulip needed, all it took to motivate the girl.

“Atticus,” she smiled, “thank you.”

But before any of them could even notice, a shadow snuck up out from underneath their gaze. There was a mechanical clank, a slight scent of rubber and metal. When Tulip looked down, she saw the thing she feared the most on this train. When she looked down – she saw a bulky metal tentacle.

Like a vicious python it wrapped itself around the tiny robot One-One, yanking him out of Tulip’s bag and proceeded to drag him into the darkness behind the door of the next train car.

“ONE-ONE! NO!” Tulip yelped.

The corgi king did not even stop for a bark, leaping into the darkness beyond like a small yellow cannonball. Tulip soon rushed in afterwards before quickly realizing the darkness swarming her, a sudden fear arose from within. She wanted to stop her legs but it had already decided to launch her into the train car.

Shortly after some wrinkles of anger and fear began forming on her face the train car suddenly began lighting up brighter than a Christmas tree. A bright white wall closed in on her in all four directions. The girl didn’t even realize that she was lying on her back staring at the bleach white ceiling, like one of those times she went to visit the dentist. Only difference was this was no dentist. More like a mad scientist’s laboratory.

What in the hell was this place? The girl shouted in her head, because she’d been to her school’s science lab plenty of time already and she was damn sure that it did not look anything like this labyrinth before her eyes. Endless rows of tables set to the side with glass tubes going up and down everywhere like a miniature roller coaster. Chemical liquid substances shooting itself through these glass tubes, as if being sucked by a vacuum of sort. They boiled, the bubbled, they sizzled. And the colors… god, the colors were so unnatural, as if came straight out of a comic book or an old cartoon of sort. Also scattered all over these tables were lab equipment of all kinds. Tongs, Bunsen burners, and even a bunch of screwdrivers, cogs and bolts lying on a pile of scrap metal.

But lab equipment, strange chemical substances weren’t what made Tulip lost for words. No, it was the entire lineup of all these ridiculous giant robots standing by the side of the wall like a bunch of criminals waiting for their mug shot. They were actually more like gigantic microwaves on wheels than actual robots. Some of them were in perfect condition, as polished as pearls. Others – not so much. That would explain the pile of scrap metal, though.

And one thing that struck Tulip as odd was the color scheme of all these massive robots – black and white.

“ _Miss Tulip, can you hear me?”_

A small joyful voice echoed behind the girl.

She turned towards the direction it came from and from the shadows she saw something she did not think she’d ever see again.

A human face.

“Oh my god…”

Tulip was so happy, so happy to see another humanly face around here… well at least for about half a second or so before she realized that what she was looking at wasn’t a human face – but a human face on a screen.

By god. It turned out that getting used to the oddities regurgitated from this blasted train was more difficult than Tulip had imagined.

It was a woman, a blond young woman – maybe somewhere in her thirties. She had this strange smile on her that seemed somewhat… artificial. The robot looked quite similar to the other broken down models placed all over the room – like a big microwave with wheels. Its arms were huge and bulky and yet it resembled the tentacles that those Phantom People had. It was at this point that suspicion began to rise. It also didn’t help that the thing was viciously wrapping its huge tentacle arm around One-One like a wild gigantic python.

“Oh my gosh… a human!” The robot woman gasped, “A human? … A human! Holy moly, I haven’t seen your kind in… in years!”

“Hi Miss Tulip,” Glad-One waved. “Glad to see you’re doing alright.”

“One-One!” Tulip cried, “What… what are you doing with him? You let him go now!”

“Oh?”

The woman stared down the tiny spherical robot as if she didn’t even notice him there in the first place.

“Good heavens,” the woman laughed, “I’m sorry… terribly sorry. I thought he was one of my robots that went rogue the other day. Ha, my detector must have been off or something. I pointed the thing at this direction and whoop – it just goes off, ha-ha.”

The robot woman loosened her grip on One-One and the tiny bot rolled off to the floor, still squealing in joy.

Tulip just couldn’t help but stare at her, dumbfounded.

“Who… who are you?”

“Who me?” The woman asked, “My name is Dee Arr. Strange name, I know, but it’s all I’ve got. It’s all I remember.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… that was the first thing I could recall when I woke up. It was a terrible experience, terrible I tell you. Awfully loud, too. Couldn’t hear a single thing other than a bunch of static noises of course. Gosh it must have been years now. Two years, four years, I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter now. What matters now is that you’re here.  _You’re here!_ ”

“I’m here?” Tulip pointed at herself.

“You’re here!” Dee cried, “The first human – other than me of course – on this train in years, ha-ha!”

The woman laughed, but it sounded eerily artificial.

“Well, she’s certainly… unique, if I may say so myself,” Atticus commented.

“Um… okay, well… allow me to introduce ourselves. I’m Tulip. This little corgi king is Atticus. And the robot is called One-One”

“Oh, isn’t this just so delightful? Making new friends. Making new human friends. La-la la-la la.”

“I gotta ask, though,” Tulip looked about the place. “What exactly… do you do here?”

“Oh, lots of stuff,” Dee excitedly flailed her robot arms around. “I make robots mostly. I fix robots, too you see. Did I say that I also make robots? I’m pretty sure I did. Who knows these days… you just pour some bubbly chemical into some crazy metal thingamajig and voila you’ve got your robot… or at least I think that’s how it works.”

“Do you want to sit down?” Sad-One asked.

“Not at all,” she remarked, “why d’you ask?”

“Okay, okay, look,” Tulip snapped. “I’m going to need you to stop being all… all this,” gesturing towards Dee’s entire robot body. “Look, it was nice meeting you and all but we really need to get going right about now. We’ve lost enough time goofing around as it is.”

“Oh, you’re leaving already?”

“Yes. Because I’d like to get off this train as soon as possible. Come on Atticus, One-One, let’s go.”

“That’s too bad,” Dee Arr said, “I was just about to test out my new invention.”

“Well, I’m sure it will be a lovely, lovely little thing,” Tulip said with slight hint of sarcastic disdain.

Fortunately this train car wasn’t all that big – the door was just right at the end, right there. No shenanigans, no traps, no nothing.

Well…

Almost no shenanigans.

Tulip quickly realized as she reached for the knob.

“Fantastic,” the girl sighed. “Locked again.”

“Oh and I probably should mention that the door there doesn’t work,” Dee called from afar, “does not work at all. I’ve tried, oh how I’ve tried so hard. But the thing hasn’t worked in years. YEARS! I even tried to craft my own keys out of all the scrap metal over there.”

“Really now? I assume they’re one of your ‘inventions’ as well?” Tulip said.

“Yes, yes, you wouldn’t believe how many keys I’ve made throughout the years. Must’ve stacked up to the hundreds if I’m not mistaken. Thousands even. But then… I realized that the door there doesn’t even have a keyhole. Ha… who would’ve guessed?”

“Oh for the love of…” Tulip slapped her head. “Have you at least tried breaking down the door?”

Then a sudden spark suddenly lit up in Dee’s eyes. She began flailing her arms about again in this ridiculously over the top excited manner.

“Good heavens, why haven’t I thought of this? My word… and to think I spent all this time making… making keys of all things. What was I thinking? Ha! Ha! Wait here. I have something to show you.”

The robot then turned around, sped off to the other direction, wheels screeching on the floor as she went. Arms flying in the air like one of those wacky rubber tube men Tulip saw at a car wash once. Dee plunged herself straight into the pile of rubbish and metal. It started flying everywhere, splattering like a guy jumping into a swimming pool. But instead of swimming in water like a normal sane person, this robot woman thing was digging through a pile of her own... well, garbage. All of her old inventions, robots of all shapes and sizes.

Which reminded Tulip of something… rather important.

“Um… hey, Dee Arr,” she said, “you wouldn’t happen to know about… err… I don’t know… about One-One do you?”

“You mean your little spherical robot friend?” Dee yelled from behind the pile.

“Yeah, what I mean is do you happen to know… where he came from? More specifically do you know who was the person who made him? Given your… ahem… specialty and all.”

“So you want to know if I was the one who made your little friend over there rolling on the floor? Well to be completely honest with ya… I haven’t the slightest clue. I may or may not have created the little guy. It’s hard to tell these days. I mean, ha, I’ve created so many robots that I, oh jeez I can’t even keep count of. Ha-ha. I tried giving them names once, but for some reason I keep coming back to calling everybody Kenny over and over again for some reason.”

“Why didn’t you just give them numbers or something?”

“Heh… see the thing about that is I… sorta forgot what comes after nine…”

“You what?”

“Hey give me a break alright? When you spend as much time counting to infinity as I did you’ll eventually forget things, ya know… AHA! Here we go, found it!”

Dee forcefully swam herself out of the pile of crud and metal she gotten herself in. Now the room was even messier than before. Oily and smelled of metal.

“Here, come and take a look at what I’ve got,” Dee said.

She held in her hands a rocket model… a rocket model.

No larger than a child’s toy. It was, like the other robots, painted black and white. It was more of a space shuttle than an actual rocket, really.

“Um…” Tulip paused, “what exactly is this supposed to be?”

“It’s one of my inventions,” Dee said excitedly. “This is going get us out of this place you see!”

Speechless… that was all Tulip could think of. There was this sick ache inside of her dome that was a clear indication that either she was going mad along with the train or she was just tired of all the shenanigans the damn thing was throwing at her.

“Look here, Dee Arr…” Tulip sighed, “I really appreciate your sentiment… and everything else. But you can’t honestly expect me to believe that this tiny pathetic little toy here is going to help us in any way at all…”

And it was that very moment where it all blew up in Tulip’s face… almost literally, too.

The rocket burst into the air leaving behind a massive cloud of smoke and fire. It traveled with such heat, such intensity and determination. As if a tiny star was programmed inside a bomb planted inside the rocket. The thing flew straight into the wall nearby, nearly punching a hole right through the solid metal wall. Debris and dust flew all around, and a mighty fire began to spark.

“Huh… how about that…”

“Did you see that? Did you see that?” Dee shouted, “I did it. I did it. I did that! Did you see it? Oh, what a marvelous explosion that was. Ha-ha!”

“Yes… yes…” Atticus coughed. “Absolutely marvelous. What fascinating technology. My people would be thrilled to see this. I've never seen anything like this before in my entire life.”

“Come on, fellas,” Dee said, “these rockets aren’t going to build themselves.”

 

 

 

 

Tulip couldn’t believe it. She actually agreed to take part in building this mad thing. Under normal circumstances it would never work. Which was why the girl had begun questioning her sanity altogether. She thought about some therapy sessions once she gets home.

So they decided to get to work. Well, Tulip and Dee Arr at least since One-One was a teeny tiny little robot so he probably couldn’t help out much with any of the heavy lifting. Atticus did stroll around here and there trying to help, but Tulip knew that it wasn’t going to do much good. It’s the thought that counts, she said.

They wanted to make it big, bigger than the toy model obviously. There were plenty metal around for them to work. All they had to do was tear the broken down robots apart and rework it from there. The overall shape and aesthetics of the rocket didn’t really matter since they were going to crash it anyway. Welding it together should be easy especially since one of Dee’s special features was a blowtorch attached to each of her hands. A useful tool in case she wanted to build something… or maybe just to make a hot dog or something. That was what Dee told Tulip, strange woman she was.

The hard part was connecting the whole thing together. Circuits and wires were all over the place. The screws were in the wrong slots, and Tulip even saw a nail stuck in there somewhere.

“A rocket,” Dee said, “I haven’t built one in years. YEARS I tell you.”

“I have to ask, though,” Tulip said. “Why a rocket of all things? Why not something else like a bomb or a robot with a gigantic boxing glove or something?”

“Excellent question, Rose.”

“My name’s Tulip.”

“Tomayto – tomahto. Anyway, I wanted to be an astronaut ever since I was a little kid, see. My mother showed me this coloring book once. There was a space ship, gigantic planets, and even black holes. I knew then that I just had to go. It’s been my dream ever since. Must’ve built about a dozen space ships or so. I kind of lost count somewhere along the way. Too busy keeping count of my robots, you know how it is.”

“Yeah… sure thing.”

“Anyway once we get this baby up and running all we need to do is press a button and have it fly into that door over there and we’ll be free to go. Now that is just a wonderful thought isn’t it? To be able to get off this train for once. Smell the fresh air, dance in the fields.”

“You’ve never been outside this train car?” Atticus asked.

“Nope, never.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered what the world outside is like?” Tulip asked, in a slightly solemn manner.

“Well, sure. But it never bothered me much. When you have a sweet robot body like the one I have here you tend to just not want to go anywhere or do anything else. Everything is just done for you. Also there’s this stupid number I got stuck on me that I got to get rid of before anything else.”

And that struck Tulip in her heart as if a freaking lightning bolt just started jolting directly into her brain.

The girl slowly turned her head. Looking dead straight ahead. Phrasing her sentence as meticulously as she could.

“Now wait just one second here, Dee,” she said, clearing her throat. “What did you just say? About the number?”

“Huh?” Dee turned around, confused. “What number?”

“The number you said that got stuck on you? The number you said you have to get rid of before anything else?”

“Ah yes, the number. I’ve got this weird number stuck on me when I woke up. Take a look.”

The woman on the screen raised her left palm and there it was. Clear as day – number 68.

“Oh my goodness,” the girl covered her mouth. “You… you have it, too? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And here I thought I was the only one on this freaking train. I’m not the only one!”

Tulip raised her palm up to the robot’s screen, showing Dee her number – the number 49. The woman in the screen widened her eyes and at first seemed rather surprised. But Tulip honestly couldn’t really tell since her expression was so robotic, so artificial.

“Good heavens me,” Dee’s eyes began scanning the number, “now isn’t this a surprise?”

“Do you know what these numbers are? Do you know what they mean? Please, if you can tell me anything, anything at all, please… please tell me!”

“Well… to be quite frank,” Dee began to grimaced, just a bit, “I have very little clue to what it might mean. It just showed up on me one day and it’s been there ever since. It must mean something, I’m sure. But as of right now there’s just not enough evidence for me to make a decisive conclusion.”

“Well… about that,” Tulip began to reveal, “for me the number haven’t always stayed the same. I was going through the train for more than an entire week before my number changed from 53 to 49.”

“Huh,” Dee raised an eyebrow, “how about that! Did you happen to know what may have caused it to change?”

“No… not that I recall. It  _did_  happen after I… after we had an encounter with this, robot monster thing.”

“Dreadful, dreadful thing it was,” Atticus added. “We hear that the locals call them the Phantom People. We’re actually a bit unsure if the thing is still tailing us or not.”

“Right,” Tulip said, “but I’m a bit skeptical on whether the monster robot was actually the cause of my number changing. After all – correlation is not causation.”

“Interesting,” Dee scratched her chin. “Whatever the case is... there is one thing that I am certain about this whole ordeal. Listen carefully, whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do  _NOT_  show anybody your number you hear me? Hide it, cover it up, paint over it, or something. Just don’t show anybody your number.”

“Huh? But why?”

“The more you leave your hand out for everybody to see, the easier it will be for you to be found.”

“Be found? Be found by whom?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know,” Dee glanced at her number, “but whenever I expose my hand, I felt as if I was being watched. Luckily for me I have this robot body and this screen here to hide away my number. But you don’t have that luxury. So I suggest you do your best to keep things… subtle. Try not to attract any attention, keeping things to yourself, that kind of things.”

“Wow… no kidding.”

It must be the Phantom People. No mistake about it. Tulip remembered vividly how those things captured the K-brothers like they were nothing but caged animals. They must have had a tracking ability or a software of some sort, and these numbers were what gave it away. But if that was truly the case then how come they didn’t notice Tulip right there in the same train car as the magpie and the owl?

The only other possible candidate was – the Conductor.

That must be it. The Conductor was described as someone with unimaginable power. So what exactly was there to stop him from tracking people?

What kind of sick game are you playing Klyde? Tulip muttered to herself.

Something was just not adding up. If Klyde really wanted to capture Tulip then how come he didn’t do it when he had the chance? Why did he let her go? Why go through all the trouble of using the number to track her? And why put a number on Dee Arr as well?

_Do not try to outsmart him, because you can’t._

That reptilian voice rung in her head, reminding her.

“There’s something about this that I don’t get, though,” Tulip said. “How did you get your number on your hand? Was it programmed into your robot or…”

“It most likely got here back when I was still a human.”

“Heh… figures.”

“Quite frankly I don’t recall much of what happened before I woke up. Before I woke up with this new body I mean.”

“Must’ve been a terrible experience,” Atticus said.

“Are you kidding?” Dee fired back, “I’m loving every minute of this since the day I woke up! I get to do whatever the heck I want, I don’t need sleep, I don’t need to eat, and most importantly I don’t need to go to the bathroom, ha-ha. I love it!”

“Yeah, well you might want to reconsider that whole thing about sleep,” Tulip commented. “You might need it.”

“Come on now, I think we ought to get back to building that rocket now, don’t you? That’s enough mucking around for one day.”

“I wouldn’t really call this mucking around,” Tulip said. “These are some very valuable information.”

“Well, that gigantic rocket ain’t going to build itself and that door ain’t going to break down all by itself either. So come on, I want to go to space! Did I ever tell you I want to be an astronaut?”

“Yes that was just a short while ago.”

“Of course!” Dee squealed.

“Oh and by the way,” Tulip reached across the circuit board Dee was working on, “you’re doing it wrong. The way you connect the wires here will probably cause a short circuit. Also the screw’s all loose. Here, let me do it.”

“Ya know…” Dee smirked, “you’re pretty good at this, Daisy.”

“Thanks,” the girl laughed awkwardly, “I personally am pretty proud of my ‘ _craft’_ , if that makes any sense, ha-ha. Oh and my name’s Tulip, not Daisy.”

“Really now? I could’ve sworn it was something else.”

“And – there – we – go,” she inserted the wires into its slots. “There. That should do the trick. So how about we work on the engine then? I swear, I…”

But when Tulip looked at Dee – nothing had remained on her screen but static.

“What the…”

A sudden surge of electricity began bursting over Dee’s robot body. Her arms shook like seizures. The square frames of her body vibrated violently, rattling all the screws and cogs stuck deep inside her body. The potent odor of oil then began to surface. The woman had lost control of everything. Her wheels spun and spun aimlessly around, dragging her body in circles.

“What’s going on here?”

“Tulip, look out!” Atticus barked.

Dee started flailing her arms around again but this time in a way that was much deadlier than usual. Her wheels tripped on the shiny smooth floor, flinging her body all over the place, crashing into the metal wall and even into the rocket they were building.

“Tulip, we must do something!” Atticus yelled, “She’s out of control. We can’t let this go on!”

“Err… err… maybe I can try to grab her, pin her down…”

“ _NO!_ ”

A firm robotic voice bellowed. Tulip spun her head and in her shock had her jaw dropped, eyes widened, gasping for air.

“One-One?”

The tiny robot stood there. Something was different. A sudden… aura was surrounding him.

“Careful,” Sad-One said, “she’s corrupted.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Perhaps a virus in one of her files, or her operating system is faulty, out of date. I am not entirely sure. Either way she’s far too dangerous in her current state. I’ve managed to hack into her system and restrained her for now.”

Tulip had only just now realized why One-One had been so quiet the last hour or so. She’d never seen One-One so serious like this. This was the voice of neither Glad-One nor Sad-One. It was… something else. Not necessarily a different person, but still – something else.

“I sense,” One-One said, “sadness. Crushing sadness and despair. The woman said she’s lost her memory. But I don’t think that’s true.”

The static sound got even louder this time, buzzing around Tulip’s ears like angry wasps.

“You have to make her remember,” Sad-One said, “or she will turn mad. If that happens, then she’s as good as dead, and there won’t be anything stopping her rampage.”

“Wha… what am I supposed to do?”

“Open her up,” Sad-One said. “Use the screwdriver over there. The only way we’ll know for sure is to dig into her innards.”

It honestly felt weird when asked to ‘ _dig_ ’ into someone, even if that someone was no longer human.

But this was necessary. So no backing out of this now. Because when Tulip looked into that static screen – all she saw was confusion, the kind that she felt back in Corgidia, right before she got her push.

Tulip grabbed her screwdriver and went straight up to Dee. Even with the woman’s arms flying about and her wheels running into everything, it still didn’t discourage her.

“Hold still!” She grunted as she grabbed on the big ‘microwave’ flailing about, holding her in place.

“What you’re gonna want to do is open the mainframe,” Sad-One. “It should be somewhere in the back.”

“Yup, found it,” Tulip dug straight into it, prying open the metal panel. “Now what?”

“There should be a bunch of wires in one of the corners, do you see it?”

“Um, hang on… err… yeah, yeah I do.”

“Now it’s important that you do exactly as I say, I repeat,  _exactly_  as I say. You got it?”

Tulip nodded.

“Good, now, carefully remove the black, green and yellow wires.”

Tulip reached her hand inside but a spark of electricity suddenly zapped her, making her twitch and back off.

“Careful, Tulip,” Atticus warned her.

“I got this! I got this…”

The wires were incredibly slippery with sweat and oil sticking all over the surface. Tulip wondered how long all this had been going on without maintenance. Luckily they were already loose enough that pulling them out was a cinch.

“Alright, I’ve got them out,” Tulip said.

“Excellent,” said Sad-One. “Now this is what I want you to do. Do you see a small little metal box with a green light behind all the wires? I want you to take your screwdriver and drive it straight into that box.”

“Wait what?” Tulip yelped.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I want you to destroy it. Stab it, get rid of it.”

“I’m going to need more to go off on here because right now you’re being very, very vague, One-One. And I do not like it one bit! Why on earth do I need to smash this thing?”

“Do you trust me Tulip?” Glad-One suddenly asked.

“Huh… um… well, yeah but…”

“Then you will trust me when I say that it is paramount that you destroy that box!” Sad-One insisted.

“But why?” Tulip yelled, “What’s inside that box? What makes it so important? What if I accidentally destroy something important? What if I accidentally kill Dee Arr? What happens then, One-One? You tell me!”

One-One didn’t answer, he only looked beyond. Staring at her, still confident in his words. Still confident that this was something that must be done. He did not back down, and Tulip saw it. She saw it in his cold unflinching eyes.

It really was looking as if she didn’t really have a choice.

“Tulip, no!” Atticus barked, “What if something goes horribly wrong? What if…”

“With all due respect your majesty,” Sad-One interrupted, “If I have to choose between one of us dying and all of us dying, then I’d choose the former.”

No going back now! Tulip told herself. She swallowed a mouthful, with sweat furiously pouring out of her forehead and palms due to the excessive heat in the room. Arms were shaking, her mouth dried up from anxiety. Tulip tightened up her grip on the screwdriver. Still slippery, but no time left for second thoughts.

She raised her hand, the screwdriver tightly gripped, and drove it straight down into the box behind the pile of messy wires. At first there was nothing but a loud snap of the metal cover being ripped apart but then a surge of powerful electricity instantaneously burst out of the box blasting at Tulip, sending her flying straight to the wall.

A flash, then another violent burst of energy struck the room like lightning. It came pouring out of Dee like a geyser being held shut for so long it could no longer contain itself. Flashes of yellow and red lights continue to explode out of the box Tulip just stabbed. The train car began to shake, tremors vibrating the wheels beneath the car. Dee had finally lost control, slamming into anything she could make contact with, tumbling over the table full of test tubes and scrap metal. Flying straight into the rocket they were building. She simple could not be stopped.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Tulip screamed. “One-One! DO SOMETHING!”

“Stick to the walls, Tulip!” Atticus shouted. “Don’t let go.”

But the explosion for some reason unexpectedly stopped half-way through. As if frozen or petrified. By some ungodly miracle the nightmare was over. It’s over, Tulip muttered.

Then the explosive warmth of the heat slowly turned into cold breeze. The violent beams of light slowly became soothing sounds and images. It was blurry, but still visible. It came from the box – it was a projector.

A woman appeared, a bit pixelated and even fuzzy at times. But at the same time it was bright and calm with a hint of static here and there. Tulip recognized her – blond and young, somewhere in her 20s. She wore a white lab coat and had a pair of glasses. No mistake about it – that was Dee.

But there was another figure as well. Someone else… Someone Tulip could spot a mile away.

“ _Don’t do this Klyde!”_  The young Dee cried, “ _Please I beg you, don’t…”_

 _“Don’t try to stop me Doc,”_  Klyde affirmed. “ _I’m getting off this train one way or another!”_

“ _But why? Why do you want to get off so badly?”_

“ _Is that a joke? Please tell that_ _you_ _’re_ _jok_ _ing_ _.”_

_“But you’ll die! Is that what you want? Do you really want to die?”_

_“What do you want me to do then?”_  Klyde shouted violently, _“Do you expect me to stay on this stupid train for the rest of my long miserable life?”_

_“But here you’ll be safe. No harm will ever come to you. Please Klyde, stay… stay here… with me.”_

_“DOCTOR! Get out of my way. I’m done playing games.”_

_“Klyde… no… zzzz… please… ple… zzzz.”_

The recording was cut off there.

Tulip sat there, dumbfounded. She did not know what to think. Didn’t know what to make of any of this. She didn’t even notice the door of the train car had already opened on its own. Neither did the girl notice that Dee had already came back online, a bit fuzzy but her face was there on the screen.

“… Wha… huh…” Dee shook her head, eyes rapidly blinking, “what… what on earth just happened?”

“That box,” Sad-One explained, “was what kept the door locked. No matter how much you damage the door, no matter how long you go at it, you will be trapped in here unless that box is destroyed. Dee Arr, tell me, how long were you in here?”

“I… I…” the woman stuttered, “I don’t remember.”

“I thought so,” Sad-One said. “The box corrupted you, corrupted your memory. If that thing had stayed inside a bit longer you would’ve gone mad.”

“How…” Tulip managed a weak whimper, “how… just tell me… how on earth did you know?”

“I’m a robot Tulip,” Sad-One said. “Say what you want about me, but I know a corrupted robot when I see one. I’ve gone so far being one myself. And I’m not about to let another one of my kind fall to the same suffering I felt.”

Tulip fell silent, still trying to process everything.

“One-One…” Atticus approached the little robot, “I… um… ahem… I don’t know what to… I… thank you…”

“You’re welcome… your majesty,” One-One bowed. “Now then, the door has opened for us. Shall we?”

Madness — that was all this was. Tulip didn’t even get a chance to collect her thoughts when she noticed a shuffling noise nearby.

Her number — it had changed from 49 to 47.


	6. Enter the Serpent Part 1

“The number’s changed!” Tulip bellowed. “It changed! It changed! Oh – my – god.”

“Um… Tulip,” Atticus nudged her shin, “you might want to… um…”

Tulip spun her head around, quickly realizing.

“Oh… my bad.”

Dee Arr sat there, not much more than a wrecked pile of junk. Barely functional at this point. Her face was blank and… sad. The graphics on her screen blurred momentarily, weak and stuttering. She tried to grin but knew right away that it wouldn’t work.

“I… I… oh dear…” the crazy enthusiasm seemed drained out of her, “wha… who… who was that… person?”

“He’s… um… uh…”

Tulip knew that Klyde was a gecko. Tulip knew that Klyde was the sheriff of a small town of geckos. She knew all that. But after seeing the hologram she could only give one answer.

“I don’t know.”

Dee shook her head with this grim aura still circling her robotic eyes. Knowing that she wouldn’t have gotten a clear answer.

“And you…” Tulip said, immediately shifting focus to One-One, “you have  _a lot_  to explain.”

Tulip was furious, and yet hesitant, mind spinning and numbed. She clenched her fist, staring with mad eyes at the tiny spherical robot’s blank dark expression. Frozen in place, no fear, no emotion. His tiny feet patiently tapping on the floor, each beat louder than the last, waiting.

The robot sighed:

“I assume… you have questions.”

“You think so?” Tulip snapped, “Of course you do, what am I talking about? I mean, I should’ve seen this coming a mile away. I mean, that’s what I get for trusting a freaking robot of all things when I first came on this stupid train, am I right people? What am I babbling about? I have no idea. THE POINT here is… is… I just need you to answer one simple question – what else are you hiding from us?”

“Nothing,” One-One simply said.

“What?”

“I know it’s hard to believe. It’s true, I never told you about all… this. But here’s the thing, you never really asked. So you see…”

“Oh don’t you dare give me any of that. You mean to tell me that a dopey naive little robot, being you, can just suddenly out of nowhere come out as this highly advanced and highly intelligent machine? All this time? Well whoop-de-doo, that just made all the difference in the world right there. I mean if you were so knowledgeable all this time, then wouldn’t it be kind of cool if, well I don’t know, if you had actually helped us out for a change? Instead of goofing around all the time?”

“Oh sweet simple Tulip,” Glad-One laughed. “You have absolutely no idea do you?”

“What? What don’t I know? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Do you honestly think that we enjoy being on this train?” Sad-One asked, “For someone who complains about this quote unquote stupid train all the time, you sure don’t think about what others feel about the matter do you? That’s a whole new level of selfishness.”

“Excuse me?”

“Haven’t you ever wondered how we survived on this train?” Sad-One said, “Haven’t you ever wondered how it was possible that someone as tiny and weak as us never got gobbled up by some kind of monster?” Glad-One followed up.

“Well…”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you shouldn’t have trusted us when we first met. Maybe you should’ve used your common sense. But either way, we would’ve survived regardless if you’ve found us or not. It’s what we do – we survive.”

“Although we wouldn’t really call ourselves ‘ _knowledgeable’_ or ‘ _highly intelligent,”_  Glad-One said. “Messing with the train’s machinery  _has_  got us far. But that’s about the only thing we know how to do.”

“But why?” Atticus asked, “What purpose have you to travel this train?”

But One-One simply shook his head.

“It’s the same as Tulip, I suppose. Looking for a purpose.”

“Um, excuse me,” Tulip said, “but I’m not here to find my purpose. I just want to get off this train. How often do I have to repeat that to get it through people’s head?”

“Is that so?” One-One asked, “Then pray tell, why haven’t you just jump off the train?”

“Are you mad? With the speed this thing is going I’m sure to break my legs.”

“Then why not just climb over the train car? Why put yourself through the trouble of going through each car?”

“I… well…” Tulip stuttered, “well the wind… the wind’s too much for me. Also I might fall over.”

“Just ask yourself this Tulip,” One-One said, “is it really the truth that you couldn’t get off the train… or is it more like you wouldn’t?”

Face it! This journey… this journey will last for an eternity. No two ways about it. She didn’t know where this train was going, nor did she know when it will stop, or if it will stop at all. This train was a mystery. Bizarre, odd, strange… and… and… and just so wonderful. Dear god, maybe One-One was right. Maybe this train really did compel her to stay. She had always walked a slow pace on this train, not because of fatigue, though.

“So what are you going to do now?” One-One asked, “Are you going to leave me behind? Leave me to fend for myself?”

“What? No! I mean… no… no. I… don’t know. All I know is that this number is still on my hand. But it changed. Now I need to figure out what made it changed.”

“Then stop making everything so difficult and let me help you,” One-One said. “You’re not going to figure this out on your own. Isn’t that right… Atticus?”

The corgi nodded:

“We’re here for you, Tulip. You can count on that.”

A deep furrow surfaced onto Tulip’s brows. Unsure and untrusting of both of them. She knew they meant well, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she could do at that point was nod.

“Wait… I’m coming with you.”

The three spun their heads, and there she stood. Dee was back on her feet, um, wheels again. Her robot parts were still loose and clunky, some even steaming with smoke. But she smiled… she smiled regardless.

“Wait, no… you can’t.”

“You’re in no shape to do such a thing,” Atticus warned. “You’ll be in a million pieces before you even make it pass one train car.”

“Perhaps,” Dee said, then confidently raised her palm where her number was, “but this means something. You showed me that. It means something, I’m sure. And it has something to do with that hologram that came out of my body. They’re my memories. If I collect them... if I remember… I’m sure we’ll be able to learn the answer.”

“But how can you be so sure?”

Dee simply shrugged:

“What other options are there for me? Look, look over there. The door is open. And I know, I KNOW that I will find the answer if I continue forward. Because I sure as heck am not going to stay in this place fixing broken down robots and building space ships out of scraps and junk any longer. I’m tired of fixing broken things.”

 

 

 

 

_Okay, here goes nothing._

_Nothing to worry about._

_Just like last time._

_Nothing to be afraid of._

_The train can only have so many tricks up its sleeves._

_Here we go._

_Huh…_

_A forest._

Their eyes were met with a magnificent wall of green, brilliant and fresh. Birch and oak trees planted together in a strange way; with seemingly no order or particular pattern. Alongside were a few bushes of blueberries and… mini palm trees the size of a garden gnome… and even literal potato trees. Behind them were also a few bushes of what looked like white tomatoes. Truly another sign of the madness of the Conductor.

“Huh, well this seems basic enough, except for the weird plants of course,” Tulip said. “Other than that, nothing seems out of the ordinary… which gives me the heebie-jeebies to be quite frank.”

“Ooh, berries.”

“Wait, Atticus, what are you doing?”

“Oh dear, please do forgive me for my animalistic instinct Tulip but it  _has_ been a while since I’ve indulged myself with a good patch of blueberries. And you know very well what hunger can do to an animal.”

“Yeah well the same thing happens with humans, too,” Tulip said. “I guess it couldn’t hurt if we stop for a quick snack. I’m nearly all out of food myself.”

“Excellent,” Atticus said.

They all then gathered around these strange little plants. Up close they seemed real enough but one couldn’t help but think that this was all some sort of elaborate dream. Tulip plucked one berry right from its bush and chuck it in her mouth. The juice immediately filled her dry tongue.

“Hmm, not bad,” she said while chewing. “Seems real enough… edible, juicy.”

“If they’re real then how come I can’t eat them, Miss Tulip?” Glad-One asked.

“Because you don’t have a mouth?”

“I can attest to that,” Dee said, “judging by his biological anatomy, I can logically deduce that One-One is suffering from some form of mutation. Perhaps caused by an overdose of radiation somewhere. My radiation detection gauge  _have_ been experiencing a sudden increase in number as of late, perhaps it came from outside the train seeping in, so you see…”

“Um, Dee… One-One is a robot. So he doesn’t have a biological anatomy,” Tulip said.

“OF COURSE, it all makes sense now, ha-ha. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”

“Right, anyway, I think we should pack some of these for the road. You reckon these potato trees and white tomatoes are safe to eat?”

“They look all look like food to me, Miss Tulip,” Glad-One said.

“Atticus?”

The corgi began sniffing at the plants.

“No, nothing seems off.”

“The only thing we really have to worry about is, like I said, the radiation level. My meter has been measuring at a slightly higher than usual rate. But this measurement represents everywhere – inside the train or not. And so far the radiation hasn’t seem to make any substantial damage to the environment.”

“Huh, that’s strange,” Tulip said. “Well, we’re still here aren’t we? And if we are then that means the radiation must not be that lethal. Either that or the train somehow manages to stabilize the radiation, keeping everything in here alive. I don’t know how he does it, that Conductor, but this train really is a marvel of science.”

Tulip reached out to grab some of the plants and stuffed them down her backpack. Some of the roots were a bit stubborn but with Atticus’s help they managed to gather quite a reasonable pile. And they weren’t awfully heavy either, so that made walking around with this bulky bag on her back somewhat manageable.

“Wait,” One-One said, “Do you hear that?”

Suddenly from afar a faint sound of metal clanking was heard. Tulip had no idea what the sound could be but she didn’t feel good hearing them. They sounded somewhat… mechanical, or maybe she was just imagining it. But mechanical metal sounds never brought her anything but bad memories on this train. Particularly memory of a giant robot monster with fiery glowing eyes.

“Let’s go see what it is,” Atticus said.

“Wait no!” Tulip cried. “Think about it guys, suspicious sound in the middle of a forest? That’s one giant red flag right there. What we need to do is turn the other way and walk as fast as we can.”

“Well it’s a little too late for that now,” Dee pointed, “because your little golf ball friend already ran straight into that direction.”

“WHAT?”

“ _Yippee Ki-yay, woo!”_  Glad-One shouted as he rolled down hill like a boulder.

“WAIT, ONE-ONE, ugh!”

They had no choice but to follow the robot into the bushes and emerge onto the other side. There they spotted one of the most peculiar sight they’d seen all day – a sword fight between two frogs wearing plate armors.

They looked like knights, from the rusty bucket-shaped helmets they wore that barely exposed their dried up face to the hefty metal gauntlets and greaves. Even the emblems they wore on the front of their breastplate were meticulously designed to purposefully look as medieval as possible. One was a yellow dragon of sort, the other a purple serpent. The emblems seemed different, and yet somehow still similar. Probably because of the way they were drawn connecting the heads to the tails forming a circle.

Tulip… had absolutely no idea what to make of any of this. She didn’t know whether to interfere or to just watch as things unfold. Just the clashing sounds of their heavy rusty blades was already enough to mesmerize her. Their swings were heavy and clumsy and yet Tulip could not help but observe this fight scene with an eagle eye.

“Wow, sentient walking amphibians,” Dee gasped. “I have never seen such a marvelous specimen of life before.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” Tulip said.

“At first glance their unusual size points to some sort of unnatural mutation,” Dee continued. “But upon further inspection of their anatomy proportions and bodily organs they seem absolutely natural.”

“You can see the organs in their bodies?” Tulip asked.

“To an extent, yes,” Dee answered, “I am equipped with a highly advanced scanning technology that allows me to make approximation based on the visuals that I have. But it’s still just an approximation, so nothing conclusive.”

“Should we do something?” Atticus asked, “I feel slightly uncomfortable watching this quarrel before us.”

“Let us see where this goes,” Sad-One said. “Perhaps we will be able to learn a lesson from this fight. A lesson on how life eventually returns to whence it came – ashes.”

“Wow, that’s dark,” Tulip commented.

And then just as the fight was raging on, a powerful voice was heard in the distance.

“HALT!”

Everyone’s head turned to its direction, even the knights who were in combat.

Oh and now even more frogs wearing armor showed up, because why the hell not? A group of about four frog knights all wearing chain mail came ‘ _riding’_  down the hill on their 'wooden horse'. They weren’t even actual wooden horses, just a bunch of sticks with a head of a horse attached at the end. Tulip could not have made this up even if she tried. They wore freaking chain mails and wielded gigantic kite shields! She really had had enough of weirdos wearing armors and speaking archaic tongue for one lifetime. Maybe the Conductor was running out of original ideas.

One of the bigger frogs from the group raised his hand, as if about to announce something. He was bigger than the rest of the group, his skin was noticeably darker and thicker than most of his peers. They seemed more like dragon scales than actual amphibian skin. He wore a metal helmet with golden trims, so he stood out from the rest. Not to mention the huge golden dragon emblem woven onto the front of his armor that made his overall attire much more sparkling than usual.

“I am Art, King of Plittons,” the frog proclaimed. “I seek the greatest and mightiest knights in this land to join me on my Court of… um… my Court of… um… what was the name of our Court again?”

“It used to be Cam-something, but I can’t for the life of me remember,” one of the frogs behind him said. “How about we come up with a new name?”

“A new name?” Art cried, “Are you mad? Then what was the point of going around announcing to people our names and our Court?”

“What’s the point if none of us even remember the name?”

“Oh, right.”

“We’ve been doing this for god knows how long, your majesty. It feels like walking in a circle. And I don’t like it one bit.”

“Calm yourself Sir Spearcelot,” Art said. “We can fix this. I swear.”

“HEY!”

The frog with the purple serpent emblem shouted, obviously annoyed for being interrupted.

“Are you fools done with your pointless bickering? Because we’re kind of in the middle of something here if you don’t mind.”

“Ah, yes, yes, of course,” Art said.

“Psst, Tulip,” Atticus nudged her. “What exactly is going on here?”

“I wish I know, Atticus… I really wish I know.”

The conversation on the battlefield resumed.

“Right, back to the matter at hand. I am Art, King of the Plittons. I seek the greatest and mightiest knights in this land to join me on my Court of Currently-unnamed-but-will-soon-be-named-again-at-one-point. We are on a quest seeking the legendary Roro Cavern where inside we shall find an ancient artifact of great value – the one and only Celestial Chalice. A sacred quest given to us by a man living in the clouds, for you see…”

“I swear,” Tulip whispered, “I saw this in a movie once, the plot went about exactly like this, no joke. Or was it a play? Wasn’t exactly sure.”

“… And for that reason I truly believe that both of you mighty warriors must join us on our pilgrimage to the legendary Roro Cavern and seek out the Celestial Chalice.”

“You’re impossibly dense aren’t you, Art King of the Plittons?” The frog with the serpent emblem said. “I’M THE GUARDIAN OF THE RORO CAVERN you bloated buffoon!”

“Oh…” Art paused awkwardly, “… you are?”

“Of course I am you stupid idiot. Why the heck do you think I’m fighting one of your men here for the last four and a half hours ya dingus? You didn’t even recognize him on the way in, did you? He’s even wearing the same emblem as you are for the love of Roro!”

“Ah… of course… Sir Robout the Scared…” Art said. “I see… I did not… notice… that before… Sir Robout… of course… well…”

“This is like one terrible TV show that is so bad that it loops right back around to being good,” Tulip commented, still staring with her wide eyes. “Why the hell am I even watching this?”

“To escape the irrefutable truth about the misery in one’s mediocre life,” Sad-One said. “That is, after all, the purpose of the entertainment industry, to distract people from the harsh and sad reality.”

“Quit it, One-One!”

“So,” the one with the serpent emblem said, “like I was telling your little dingus over there, I am the Guardian of the Roro Cavern. And none of you shall pass this place and into the cavern. For I am invincible and I move for no frog… or toad. Whichever you prefer, I don’t judge. I AM INVINCIBLE, YOU HEAR? So have at you! I will…”

But before the Roro Guardian could even finish his sentence his throat was violent strangled by a thick metal pipe of unimaginable strength. Upon closer inspection Tulip noticed right away that it was not a metal pipe – no, far worse, it was a metal tentacle. Its claws spread like a lotus, but in her eyes she saw nothing but a burning blue fire.

“Oh no…”

The beast sprung from the bushes like a root being yanked right out of the ground. Its fiery eyes was as angry and soulless as before. The monster was a robot, Tulip knew that, but it blended itself behind the plants and the trees so well that it was scary how natural it looked amongst the green. The fire was violent, but not chaotic. It was cold and robotic, like a bar of metal being dipped into magma and ice water. Its face was white and blank, just like how Tulip remembered it. Electricity even started bursting out of the monster’s tentacles and claws. Claws so hungry and violent it wasted no time charging towards the knights.

“Oh no… oh no, oh no, oh no…”

“By jove,” King Art exclaimed, “what is this monster? It is hideous. Show it no mercy, men!”

“Tulip!” Sad-One called, “We should get out of here… Tulip!”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

“HAVE AT YOU!” The knights yelled.

Each clashing of the steel grew louder and louder. The swords were sharp, and the frogs’ shields were heavy – but what they were facing was a monster, a monster sent from a higher power. Mere mortals like the frog knights are simply outmatched. The monster’s tentacles went everywhere, grabbing at anything it could find. The Roro Guardian was halfway to passing out at this point.

“TULIP!” Atticus barked amidst the chaotic battle. “We must go now!”

“Come now, child,” Dee urged, “let us do what the little corgi says. I don’t want to see my robot innards be pulled outside by that thing.”

“Huh? But where are we going?” Tulip asked.

“The knights are distracted, and so is the monster,” Sad-One looked coldly beyond. “We must go to the Roro Cavern.”

“WHAT?” Tulip cried, “Are you mad?”

“The Guardian is not paying attention Miss Tulip,” Glad-One said. “I say that it’s a worth a shot.”

“No!” Tulip firmly said, “You’re crazy If you think I’m going anywhere near that thing, crazy I say!”

“You don’t have a choice Tulip,” Sad-One said.

“It’s just a short distance, they won’t even notice us,” Glad-One said.

“No… no! I can’t do it. Atticus say something, back me up will you? This is madness! That monster almost killed you, Atticus. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t see another option here, it’s a tricky situation,” Atticus said.

“I calculate there to be a 30 percent chance of success if we follow One-One’s instructions,” Dee explained. “But the chance of us surviving if we stay here is even less compared to that. Now…”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID NUMBERS, DEE!” Tulip cried, “Look One-One, I… I know what I said about trusting you, but the truth is I can’t, I CAN’T alright? Not with you here barking orders, telling me to, to go straight into that death zone. I can’t do it.  _I’M NOT GOING TO LET YOU THROW AWAY YOUR LIFE LIKE THAT, DAD!”_

Tulip immediately covered her mouth, quickly realizing what she had just said.

Everybody glared at her in silence. A silence that was either caused by shock… or fear of unknown secrets. It didn’t matter either way, because they both felt exactly the same.

Tulip didn’t know what else to do but to tear up, but only a little bit. Staring at One-One did not help. All he did was glare at her with his cold robotic pair of eyes. Still confident, still calm, still quiet and waiting. Tulip clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. She could not even bear to look directly into One-One’s gaze. It all felt too familiar, that cold unfeeling stare.

The girl sighed anxiously:

“T… take us to the cave… One-One…”

 

 

 

 

The battle between the knights and the monster was still raging on in the distance, the smell of exhausted air and rusty steel was still fresh. One-One was quiet and very nimble in his directions but it was Atticus who helped the crew move as silently as possible with his enhanced sense of smell. Scouting the terrain in front of them became a lot easier with him by their side.

The so called legendary Roro Cavern was located behind a pile of large boulders. To be completely honest the place was more of a large hole than an actual cave since the entrance was actually quite narrow. Dee was quite a big robot herself so she was forced to slightly lower her head in order to get inside. Those frog knights would’ve had a difficult time entering the place with all their clunky weapons and armors.

“We made it, excellent work everyone,” Atticus cheered.

“Oh wow… this hole is even bigger than my house,” Glad-One said, admiring the entrance.

“I don’t recall you having a house little one,” Atticus said.

“It’s all metaphorical, your Majesty,” Glad-One said. “House is just a metaphor for home. And home is where your heart is, where your family is. And I don’t even have a heart, ah ha-ha.”

The four of them continued marching deeper into the cavern. It was obviously quite dark, but as luck would have it, One-One apparently glowed in the dark. The poor little thing didn’t even know he had that function within him. Glad-One was delighted beyond logic. They literally just walked past a future graveyard for frogs and here the little guy was so giddy about finding out he had an inner light bulb that he’d forgotten about all that horrible mess they walked by. Well, at least some of them were walking on with delight, unlike…

“Tulip,” Dee patted the girl’s shoulder. “Are… are you alright?”

She blinked her eyes, then began stuttering:

“I… um… f… f… I mean… I’m… I’m fine… I’m fine… fine.”

“Well you don’t look so good.”

“How so?” Tulip asked, “Is one of your scanners acting up again?”

“As a matter of fact yes,” Dee told her. “I’m detecting an irregular level of heart rate, breath per minute, and so on. Even your body temperature is acting up in unusual manners.”

“It’s… probably just the dark cave. I was never good at dealing with the dark. I’ve always had a hard time falling asleep when I was a kid. And even up until recently I still couldn’t close my eyes when the room goes dark. The only reason why I could fall asleep at all is because I always stare at the walls until my eyes become so sore and tired that… everything just goes dark until the morning.”

“No…”

“No?”

“No…” Dee said, “this… this is something else. These aren’t the usual signs of claustrophobia or nyctophobia. There  _are_ however signs pointing towards… some sort of inner fear, more emotional, for a lack of a better scientific term. Gosh, I really need to brush up on my scientific vocabulary.”

“I know where this is going, Dee, but I’m not going to talk. You saw what happened and it is what it is. So can we just please ignore it and keep on moving? Please?”

They reached little jagged slope, rough and rocky but wasn’t too bad. Still enough for them to walk down like some sort of stairs. Tulip did, however, accidentally ram her head into the ceiling. Though, there weren’t any severe brain injury. At least that was what Tulip thought.

It’s kinda hard to tell when you’re on this train, she told herself.

“Tulip…” Dee reached out to her from behind. Her face on her screen were slightly dull, but there was still a visible sign of sadness.

“Yeah?”

“I… I had a son once,” she said.

Tulip face went blank, did not know how to respond. Dee continued:

“Gosh it must have been ages since I’ve seen him. A year or two maybe. Not entirely sure myself. He probably doesn’t even remember this poor old hag.”

“You… still remember your son? How? How is any of this even possible? How long have you been on this train?”

“Like I told you Tulip… I don’t remember a whole lot about… well, about everything. Maybe it’s because I’m crazy, or maybe it’s because I’m just a sad little corrupted robot. It’s probably both of those things. But strangely enough I still remember my son. His name was Terry. The last memory I have of him was… um, when he was just a wee little boy, no older than six. I remember that he loved to play his little toy trombone so much that I even told myself that this kid was going to join marching band one of these days. Heh, it’s funny really. I remember all of that but I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast the day I decided to put my brain into this giant tin can.”

“I… I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Dee said. “It’s like… it’s like I am choosing  _not_  to remember certain aspects of my past. Certain memories I don’t want here in this broken down noggin of mine. Heck, for all I know, I might’ve even programmed certain memories out of my head. It’s crazy, it’s stupid but entirely possible, I know so because I know if I want to I can do it right now… I can forget.”

“But why are you telling me all this?”

“Because what you’re doing right now… is the same thing I did,” Dee explained. “You are choosing to forget. You want to forget, I can see it in your eyes. But you don’t want to forget everything. Just certain things… certain bad memories.”

“No, that’s…” Tulip hesitated, “Preposterous…”

“Tulip, trust me when I say you don’t want to end up old, corrupted and mad like me. Doing these kinds of things will never do anybody any good. Your memories are there for a reason, both good and bad. They are there so that you can learn from them. But if you forget certain things from your mind then how can you ever learn? Listen, Tulip… I’m here for you. Don’t block other people out of your life. I’m here for you, Tulip… if you ever need to talk.”

Tulip wanted to tell Dee how she was wrong so badly, but Tulip knew that denying it would not faze Dee one bit. Because the woman was smiling. It was somewhat robotic but that curve on her face felt genuine. And one simply could not block something that genuine out of one’s life.

“Th… Th… ank you… Thanks…” Tulip awkward blurted out, she didn’t think Dee heard her, but the woman’s smile told her otherwise.

“Oh wow,” Glad-One’s voice echoed from afar, “pretty drawings.”

“What?”

It wasn’t long before they caught up with One-One. The little guy stopped by a big wall made out of some sort of sandy stones. Very old stones at that. Didn’t smell all that nice either. But there was something peculiar about the surface texture of the wall. Rugged and unrefined but upon a second look Tulip realized that it wasn’t just a wall with some random rocky surface. They were carvings.

Images and drawings, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian wall carvings but it felt different, too. As if there was a distinct personal touch by the original creator.

There was one notable carving by the side of the wall, it was bigger than the rest. Some of the rocks crumbled around it so there was a few bits chipped off but otherwise the image was still there. It was a circle… of sort.

“Look here,” Tulip scrubbed some of the dirt off the wall. “There’s a word here. Ro… Ro.”

“So this is it then isn’t it?” Atticus said, “The legendary Roro Cavern?”

“I wonder what’s so special about it,” Glad-One said.

“No wait guys,” Tulip said, “let me try and… gosh, there’s so much dirt all over the place, this place is ancient!”

She wiped the dust off the word Roro and behind it revealed an entirely different word.

“Huh… well what do you know,” Tulip said. “Turns out there’s no such thing as a Roro Cavern.”

“Huh?”

“See here, this here spells –  _Ouroboros._  The dust must’ve covered it up to the point people thought it said ‘ _Roro’._ ”

“But… what does… Ouroboros mean?”

“Ouroboros,” Dee explained, “Noun, a circular symbol depicting a snake or a dragon consuming its own tail. Often symbolizing the infinite cycle of life, death and rebirth.”

“One-One,” Tulip waved. “Come here, I need some light.”

She held up the little robot to the big circular image she saw earlier and it was just as Dee said. There it was, as clear as day, a carving of a serpent looping around biting its own tail – Ouroboros.

“Oh wow, what an adorable little bunny,” Glad-One said. “Can we keep it?”

“Stop acting silly One-One,” Tulip firmly told him. “Look, the wall images. They extend even further… here, it goes deeper into the cave.”

There were even more images. It was as if somebody had wanted to leave behind a story. It felt… historical. Weird way to word it but that was how Tulip felt. There were tiny people, but holding One-One up closer revealed that those weren’t images of men – but of frogs.

“What the…”

It was a depiction of a battle – or at least that was Tulip’s interpretation. They wore heavy chain mail and kite shields just like King Art and his troops outside. They all held their banner high. Two banners, two emblems, two symbols and yet one and the same. A serpent, a dragon.

But who were they fighting? Tulip wondered. The wall carvings were a bit vague. The two banners were held against each other, but the image of the giant Ouroboros serpent kept on resurfacing. It followed the frogs around, haunting them. It seemed rather confusing, for both Tulip and the frogs. The images at first were depicting a powerful frog army, plentiful and united. But as the wall went deeper and deeper into the darkness the frogs gradually became weary, they looked about in different directions not knowing where to go. Their numbers dwindled, their battle began losing vigor. And the haunting image of the Ouroboros serpent kept on looming around.

Until…

Until they reached the very end of the wall. The frogs were now meek and confused. Their eyes grew weary, tired – empty. They dropped their weapons, their shields and even their banners. They were on their knees, bowing their heads. Bowing down to a singular entity, one symbol – a chess piece on top of the head of the Ouroboros. A king piece.

And on the side were these words:

_“Beware, beware the King_

_With eyes that see it all_

_His eyes that glare and sing_

_Through these infinite halls”_

Glad-One could not help but blurt out:

“What does all this mean Miss Tulip? I’m confused.”

Tulip stood there holding One-One up high. She wanted to say she had a hunch of what it might be. But she herself was sort of afraid of the answer.

But no use trying to run away from the problem now, Tulip told herself. That was what Dee would’ve told her anyway.

“It’s… metaphorical,” the girl said. “Well… half of them at least. The images of the frogs are probably literal. But the Ouroboros serpent is most likely symbolic. Symbolic… of this train. And so the king piece on top of the Ouroboros can only mean… it can only mean one thing…”

“ _You’ve figured it out, Tulip.”_

Tulip spun her head around like a whip. Dropping One-One right onto the ground. Her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Klyde?”

And unbeknownst to Tulip. Her 47 had shifted to a 45.


	7. Slaying the Dragon Part 2

“Klyde… wh…” Tulip stuttered, “what are you doing here?”

The gecko sheriff stood there in the darkness of the cavern with One-One’s glow barely lighting up his cold sharp face. He stared at her with his serious dead eyes, unrelenting, unyielding. The air around him somehow felt different, he wasn’t as friendly as he was back in his train car anymore. But he didn’t really feel like a villain either.

But then again…

The concept of villainy was after all only relative.

“Tulip…” the gecko said, “it’s been a while… Atticus, One-One, good to see you’re still doing fine.”

The gecko then glanced up to the robot standing behind Tulip, scanning up and down briefly before ending with a long remorseful sigh.

“Doctor…” he said, “I see you’re still here.”

Tulip gazed back to where Dee stood, only now seeing the pixelated fear on the face of the woman on-screen. It was as if the woman was paralyzed from pure shock alone, shackled in her place to the point her jaw refused to move.

“You still haven’t answered my question, Klyde,” Tulip pointed her finger towards the sheriff. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t get worked up over this, Tulip,” said Klyde. “I’m here to help you, okay?”

“What?”

“You don’t know what’s out there looking for you, Tulip. It’s chaos outside, honestly the Phantom People should be the least of your concerns. I’m here to get you to the next train car, I know of a secret passage that you can use to avoid those abominations. So come on, we haven’t got much time.”

But Tulip stood there silent, staring straight ahead with a pair deadly glares, unblinking. She quickly grabbed One-One off the ground and held the light close to her chest. Ready to defend herself.

Klyde looked back into the darkness, confused and mildly irritated:

“What are you doing? Didn’t you guys hear what I said? It’s time to go.”

But Tulip merely held One-One up, illuminating the entire cave.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she continued to stare at the confused gecko with her determined eyes shining behind her round glasses, beneath that stare was a fire burning furiously like black coal.

The girl sighed and said:

“I… I met these birds a few train cars back, they called themselves the K-brothers. They told me about you.”

Klyde adjusted the collar on his duster, then proceeded to straighten out his cowboy hat, bringing the brim down just enough to cover his forehead, just short of covering his intense glare that had not once left the girl and the robot standing behind her.

“They called you many things,” she said. “A liar was one of them… so… Klyde ‘the Viper’ Bradshaw, allow me to ask you one very simple question,” the girl held up One-One even closer to Klyde, shining the blinding light onto him, “who are you?”

The gecko gave another long sigh in the silence of the cave. He took down his cowboy hat, began scratching his head and strangely enough stopped looking at Tulip with his terrifying pair of reptilian eyes. Tulip suddenly noticed that he wasn’t averting his eyes elsewhere out of guilt or fear – but instead out of sadness. Pure sorrow, as if lamenting over a tragedy in the past.

He placed his hat back on his head, adjusting it accordingly.

“You know, for the longest time I thought I’d be the last person to ever set foot into this cave,” he told her in a grim tone. “But evidently I was wrong.”

He then turned to face the carvings on the wall, feeling the rough textures on its surface with his scaly fingers, rubbing it to and fro as if expecting a response.

“You’re looking for a way to get off the train, right?” Klyde asked, “I once told you that all of this is too big for you to handle. I haven’t changed my mind since. To get off the train you would need to get to the front car, which is physically impossible. Because only one person on this entire train is capable of doing such a thing. I once said that the Conductor is a dangerous man – and he still is. There is nothing more terrifying than something you know nothing about. And nobody on this entire blasted train knows anything about the Conductor.”

“Nobody?” Tulip raised an eyebrow, “Is that a fact?”

“Well, not entirely you see. I’m one of the few who do.”

“Really now?” Tulip pressed on, “Then, pray tell, who is this person standing before me? Answer me honestly Klyde.”

“Tulip, I’m still the same ol’ sheriff you met back in that town. I wish I could help you more, I really do. But the thing about that is this train makes it so that I am physically incapable of telling you anything about the Conductor other than vague generalization that may or may not be true.”

“What the…”

“The truth about the Conductor is something that only you can find out for yourself, Tulip,” said Klyde. “I cannot help you, as much as I want to.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Tulip asked.

Klyde responded with a simple shrug:

“I guess you don’t. You’ll just have to take my word for it. I’ve faced the Conductor numerous times before so allow me to repeat myself – the Conductor is a dangerous man. I have firsthand experience… and so does she.”

Tulip turned around to where Klyde pointed his finger – directly at the woman in the robot body, still trembling in shock.

“May we meet again, Tulip, perhaps in a more pleasant place… goodbye… Doc…”

And just like that, the gecko disappeared beyond the darkness of the cavern, as if he was never here to begin with. No trace, no footprints. It honestly felt a bit surreal, and yet Tulip had finally begun to understand why so many of the geckos spoke so highly of him, why many considered him a legend around these parts. That was the reason why it felt so strange and unreal, because it felt as if she was part of the legend itself.

The girl quickly rushed right towards the entrance of the cave where they first came in, disregarding everything behind her, even forgetting she was holding One-One in her arms.

“Tulip!” Atticus yelled behind her, “Where are you going?”

The girl did not respond, but instead forced her way through the dark rubble that was falling all over her green jacket. She did not mind the debris blinding her glasses, because all she saw was the light outside shining from far beyond.

Once outside, the girl was immobilized by a mixture of pure shock and intrigue. Not that she hadn’t gotten used to being surprised, it was just that from this moment onwards, she was more fascinated than annoyed.

Klyde was soaring through the air, bouncing off any of the frogs his feet could touch, using them as a pad to launch himself even further upward.

He was fighting off the tentacles from the robot monster – with his bare fists no less!

Some people would call him an idiot for ignoring the pair of revolvers still dangling by his thighs. Why would he not use his guns? They’d ask, why would he just use his fists? They’d say. But who were they to argue when Klyde was strong enough to rip one of the monster’s mechanical tentacles right off without even breaking a sweat? Like a child tearing a little twig off a tree branch. His scaly fingers were clutching at the metal tentacle pipe with so much force that the claw marks were still visible when he threw the thing to the side.

As far as Tulip was concerned, there were two monsters fighting in this car, and Klyde was the bigger one of the two. The way the gecko just viciously hissed at the emotionless white face lit up by the blue fire just made it even scarier. Like two mindless predators fighting for territory, wild and uncontrollable.

“Tulip!” Dee reached out to her and pulled her back into the cave, “Come now child, you don’t want to be involved with all that. It’s dangerous.”

The battle outside raged on, obviously. With Klyde taking on both the monster and the confused frogs all running around swinging their blades.

“What on earth is he doing over there?” Tulip wondered, “It makes no sense. Why is he doing all this?”

“Maybe to buy time for us to escape?” Atticus suggested.

“Hmm… yeah,” Tulip said. “Maybe there’s something in my backpack that can help us, maybe something in my notes or… wait… what the…”

“What is it Miss Tulip?”

“My number…” she gasped, “oh my god… it… it changed… it changed again! It used to be 47. But now it’s 45.”

“What, really?” Dee cried, with a mix of excitement and insanity, “Let me see, let me see, let me see. Hmm… curious isn’t it? Did it change when we first entered this cave?”

“Um… no, not that I remember.”

“That’s it then,” Dee exclaimed, “that must mean that the number changed while we were within the cavern. There’s no other explanation.”

“Right, that’s what I’m thinking, too. But why in the cave?” Tulip wondered, “What exactly was the trigger? Wait a minute, did your number change as well, Dee?”

The woman quickly glanced down her palm, only to be met with disappointment.

“No, sadly… no.”

“Maybe…” Tulip began muttering to herself, “that must be… it has to be.”

“What?” Glad-One asked, “What is it? What did you find, Miss Tulip?”

“Klyde.”

“Huh?”

“It has to be him,” Tulip said. “It’s somehow connected, I’m sure of it. He must’ve been what caused the number to change. But how? There’s a missing variable in here somewhere, I just need to figure out what it is.”

“Well, you better figure it out quick,” Sad-One said.

“What? Why?”

“Behold,” the little robot said, pointing to a place beyond the forest, “Phantom People.”

“WHAT?”

A quick glance over the cave entrance and Tulip had already caught sight of a wall of blue fire raging beyond in the distant forest. She first thought there was something on her glasses and she was just seeing things, but no – this was reality.

The fire crept towards the grass where the battle was still going on, each patch of grass devoured into the throat of the fire meant one step closer to burning all the green growing from this earth. The fire burnt so fiercely the leaves on the trees refused to fall in fear of getting consumed by the hell beneath. A hell that roared in front of the shadows of the ghosts, the Phantoms. The fire lit up brighter than a ruby melting in the summer sun, and yet the Phantoms inside left behind shadows darker than the sharp cold winter’s night. A cold, cruel, blue fire.

But even then…

Deep in the throats of the flame was another shadow, or was it a blob? Tulip wasn’t entirely sure. It was just… a shape, barely recognizable and hardly human. Yet just a single glance at this blob instantly reminded the girl of what Klyde told her:

_The Conductor is a dangerous man._

_Run! Don’t even look back._

_Don’t fight him._

_Whatever you do…_

“Do not try to outsmart him…” she whispered.

“What?”

Tulip paused for a brief moment, as if stunned.

“Oh… um, it’s… it’s nothing. We should get out of here. Klyde’s buying us time. If we plan our courses right we might be able to find the door in time… at least before this fire swallow us whole.”

“Right,” Dee agreed. “I’ve already had my scanners at work, trying to map out the best possible route.”

“That’s great,” Tulip grinned, just a little, “you lead the way.”

The girl had expected to wait for at least a couple minutes, but no – apparently Dee’s scanning device was much more advanced than she first thought. A much more accurate explanation seemed to be that Dee had only scanned for useful information, only mapping out a small portion of the train car instead of trying to study the entire area to save time. Either way, the device did its job.

“Let’s go.”

 

 

 

 

Tulip and her crew crept through the bushes and the trees like slithering snakes, tiptoeing through the grass inch by inch, hoping the Phantom People would not catch them in their sight. They were lucky that the Phantoms had only managed to burn a few small areas, and this part of the wood was not one of them.

“Hmm…” Dee paused briefly to check her scanners, “this way.”

“Is this what it feels like to have my life flash before my eyes?” Glad-One asked naively.

“No,” Tulip responded, “that’s just the flash of the fire.”

“Oh…”

“We must push on forward,” Atticus said. “We mustn’t fall to our fatigue. Onward… to victory.”

“Let’s save our celebration after we’ve escaped this place,” Dee said. “Alright, let’s make a turn over here. There’s a large boulder blocking the way between us and the fire. It should buy us a little more time to get out.”

“What would we do without you, Dee?” Tulip managed a weak laugh.

“Now hold your horses now,” the good doctor announced out of nowhere, “I’m picking up an unusual heat signature coming from over there.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not entirely sure,” Dee said. “It’s a strong signature. Doesn’t seem like it’s coming from the forest fire, though.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Tulip shook her head.

“Oh… it’s… getting stronger,” Dee noted, her voice had gotten somewhat weaker, hard to notice at first, but it became a lot easier once she started widening her eyes in fear, “no… not possible…”

“What? What’s the matter Dee?”

“Yes, tell us,” Glad-One said, “I’m just dying to know here.”

“Dear lord… it… it’s sitting at ten thousand degrees Celsius.”

“WHAT? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?” Tulip shrieked.

“It’s… it’s coming…”

And there over the sight of the forest’s canopy, beyond deep inside the shadows of the frantic blue fire – hid a creature that was growing in size at such a rapid rate that it will soon grow to be at least three stories tall. It was gargantuan, and terrifying. Never had Tulip witnessed such terror in her eyes. Not even her thick round glasses could shelter her sight from what was to come.

A roar that speared the heavens.

There the clouds above ran in fear of the sound of this horrifying… thing.

On the side the trees began leaving the world of the living, either consumed by the scorching flames or torn apart by the fierce untamable hurricane.

Its claws clutched the dry soil.

Its breath full of hellish heat.

Its wings breathed icy winds.

Look upon it – a monstrous dragon.

Possessing eight frightening heads. Each more cruel than the last.

Look at it! Look at this magnificent creature, lord of the sky. Gaze upon its metal scales shining like armor with a radiant green glint. Look at the beast’s bulky black claws penetrating the earth it walked on. And there, look, look and one could see its devilish yellow eyes on each head staring with vicious hunger, hunger and desire to fill up its bottomless belly. The eyes never blinked, for everything the monster saw in its eyes were hatred for life, seeing that all living things before it needed to be snuffed out. The creature only knew how to live in hate. There was no calm wind under the creature’s wings, only violent and hateful tornadoes.

“Oh my god…”

“Wow, what a pretty chameleon,” cheered Glad-One.

“Quit it!” Tulip cried, “We have to get out of here, NOW! Dee, please tell me you’ve located the door.”

“I’m sorry Tulip. It’s just kind of hard to do so with the forest fire all around.”

“Drats!”

“Careful now,” Sad-One said, “the Phantoms… I can hear them nearby.”

“Ugh, fantastic. Quickly now, we’ve got to hide.”

They all managed to rush behind one of the still fresh bushes of the forest. The Phantoms came quicker than expected. Raising their palms engulfed in blue flame, ready to fire at anything that may pop out unexpectedly. The look on their faces were horrific, blank empty eyes filled with no emotion, only a burning desire to follow orders.

“Well, it’s been nice knowing you all,” Sad-One commented.

“We’re not dead yet,” Tulip whispered, “Dee, what’s the status? How long before you find the door?”

“Not sure,” Dee said, browsing through a crowded computer screen full of data. “This is a pretty large train car. It’ll take me approximately another seven minutes, but that number may change.”

“That might be too long. We won’t have enough time. Argh, think Tulip,” the girl banged her head with her fist, “what’s the best way to get out of this mess?”

“Tulip,” Atticus nudged her feet.

“Not now, Atticus. I’m thinking… maybe we can find a hill somewhere, chop down a tree then roll it down those Phantoms. Nah… that’ll take too long. That won’t work.”

“Tulip.”

“Please, not now Atticus… maybe if we wait it out long enough they’ll just go away… no, no, what am I thinking? That’ll never work. Those robots are too smart. Maybe… maybe…”

“Tulip.”

“WHAT, Atticus? I told you, stop bothering me. I’m busy thinking here.”

“No, Tulip… listen.”

“I don’t have time for this right now…”

“BY HEAVENS, LISTEN TO ME TULIP!”

It silenced her in an instant. The girl’s frustration and anger was immediately replaced by confusion. She didn’t understand the grim look on the corgi’s face. It was serious, but not in the comical way.

The sad thing was, Tulip had only just now realized that Atticus had never meant to come off as comical or silly. It was all sincere, no matter how ridiculous or camp the way he talked may seem.

The corgi was honest, and this was no different.

“There’s a saying in my kingdom… ‘give a puppy a day and he’ll survive until tomorrow, give a dog a week and he’ll build a house on the cliff, but give a wolf a year and he’ll become the king of all the lands’. Quite a straightforward phrase but it keeps us corgis motivated, gives us courage, gives us the strength to fight on for another day.”

“What are you saying?” Tulip asked.

Atticus grinned:

“The truth is… I am no king. I have no official authority over my land. I was never chosen for my leadership prowess. Honestly I wonder every day as to why it is that I haven’t been replaced yet. Just look at me, here I am, countless miles away from my kingdom, leaving it in the paws of another. Some king I am… I’m no king… because I’m only a dog.”

Tulip shook her head in confusion, but Atticus continued:

“But you, Tulip the Literate, you are not a dog. Far from it. I can see it in your eyes, the determination and spirit… they’re stronger than any warrior I’ve ever met. You… you are the wolf in this story, destined to be king. I am merely a dog. I’ll just be a burden to you.”

And that had Tulip’s eyes shot wide open, but Atticus did not stop:

“I am too weak. I don’t have what it takes to fight this Conductor character, but you do. All I can do now… is give you another day to live.”

“Atticus… no… no!”

“I can only pray that you’ll turn that day into weeks, months, and eventually – a year. Just promise me this Tulip.”

“Atticus, stop talking. You’re exhausted, you… you don’t know what you’re talking about. Stop!” Tulip cried.

“Just promise me,” Atticus grinned, “that you’ll become the king of all the lands, beating the Conductor, and in the end uncovering the truth about everything.”

“No, stop!”

“May we meet again in another life… and who knows, perhaps you will finally have a chance to tell me your story. How you got here, and how you met this small fellow here.”

“STOP!”

“Goodbye… Tulip… it has been a pleasure.”

Just like that, as if no other moment in the entire history of mankind mattered more than this. Everything slowed to a halt. Tulip sat there looking at the brave little corgi as he turned his back on his crew… his friends and dashed straight out of the bush into the middle of the field full of fire and Phantoms.

And from afar, they could hear a faint triumphant battle cry:

“ _Hail to Corgidia…”_

Tulip stared out into the scene while on her knees, stunned and angry… angry at herself for not stopping Atticus from charging into that madness. Tulip could no longer see the blue demonic fire burning the trees, nor could she see the eight headed dragon roaring in rage. Everything was white, blank like a canvas.

And in the middle of that canvas was Atticus, like a small black spot getting smaller as the distance between them grew. A tiny speck compared to the massive dragon. But Tulip couldn’t see the dragon on the canvas. Because she had finally understood now that true strength did not come from size or power, but instead from the courage to take that step and risk it all in the name of good.

He risked it all, his kingdom, his people, his life… just so Tulip could live another day.

“Atticus… no…” Tulip muttered as tears began rolling down her cheeks, “come back… please… don’t… don’t leave us.”

“Oh my goodness,” Dee’s scanner started ringing, “it’s picking up something. Let’s see here. There – over there! Located at a bearing of 45 degrees from this spot, meaning northeast from here. Approximately 87 meters in distance.”

“Tulip!” One-One called, “It’s time to go. We found our door.”

“Atticus… please…”

Sad-One gave a long sigh:

“Dee Arr, grab Tulip and get out of here. We’re going to perish if we don’t.”

“That doesn’t sound like a prospect I’m willing to entertain,” said Dee.

The robot woman turned to the girl who was still stunned from shock, grabbed her by the waist with her big mechanical arms and hoisted the girl up onto her shoulder.

“What the… DEE LET ME GO!” Tulip struggled in Dee’s grasps, trying to pry her thick rubber arm off. “Let me down Dee, I… I have to go back! I have to save him. I have to save Atticus!”

“It’s too late for that now Tulip,” One-One said.

“No!” She shouted, “I can still make it. I can make it, damn it! LET ME GO! I… I can…”

“Tulip,” Sad-One deepened his voice, now even more serious, “it’s time to go.”

The tears did not stop. It kept flowing out of her eyes, mixed in with a bit of sweat splashing onto her glasses. It was hard to see, but she could still barely make out a small speck in the distance. Atticus was still out there, she just knew it. The dog sped off beyond the forest with the Phantoms following him. He did not hesitate to jump straight into the raging fire. It swallowed him whole, along with the countless Phantoms tailing right behind him. People would say it was an impossible feat – and they’d be right. He was just a tiny dog going up against a monster a thousand times larger than him and ten thousand times more vicious than him. Like a pebble dreaming of one day becoming larger than the mountain above it – physically impossible.

Tulip couldn’t see him anymore through the sweat and the tears. But she felt he was still out there, she could feel it deep inside.

Or…

Maybe…

It was just the denial talking.

They ran through the forest and passed the bushes. Over the last glimpse of the light burning from the distance and into the shadows of the branches. There the wind blew smoothly and the fruits still grew. The fire hadn’t caught on yet fortunately. But fortune was the last thing on Tulip’s mind right now. Though they ran a short distance, it already felt like decades to the girl.

“Oh thank goodness, there’s the door,” Dee cried in joy. “Sneaky little thing. I thought we’d never find you. That’s some wild ride eh, Tulip?”

The girl shook off Dee’s grasps and fell back down the ground, standing up right behind the two robots, panting like she’d just ran a marathon. The girl stood there… clenching her fists.

“What… is wrong with you people?”

“Tulip?” Dee turned around.

“ANSWER ME!” She shrieked violently, cracking her voice, “What is wrong with you people? You, Dee, why did you just stand there and say nothing? Back there when Atticus was running off, you didn’t do anything to stop him. Just like when you saw Klyde again, you froze and did nothing! Is that going to be your reaction to everything from now on? Are you so dead inside now that you don’t even care anymore?”

“Tulip…” Dee stood there, in shock.

“Tulip,” said One-One, “I…”

“ _Don’t try to comfort me you maniac!”_  She yelled, “I could’ve saved him! I could’ve saved Atticus. Why on earth would you not let me save him? WHY?”

“Because you would’ve died, child,” Sad-One said in the grimmest tone he could make, “going after that dog would’ve meant the end for you. Do you honestly want that?  _Do you think Atticus would’ve want that?”_

“I DON’T CARE WHAT HE WANTS! I just want to save him, okay? Is that so hard for you to understand? It’s the right thing to do. No, I won’t have any of this. I’m going back this instant and I’m going to dive straight into that beast’s belly if I have to.”

“Stop right there!” One-One announced, “If you go after him, Atticus is going to die.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look over there, just look,” One-One pointed. “Right now there are two brave creatures fighting this impossible monster birthed from myth. Fighting to give you another day to live, another day to figure out the secrets of this train. You want to go back there and try to help them out now? Then be my guest. Just know that by doing so you’re throwing away all of their sacrifices down the drain. However… if you choose to instead push through this tragedy and continue our journey then maybe, just maybe you’ll be able to find something to help the two of them,  _even_  if they die.”

“Wha…”

“This is a train full of impossibility,” said One-One, “it’s no stranger to illogic and unexplainable phenomena. Even something as absurd as bringing the dead back to life could be possible on this train.”

“What?” Tulip cried, “How do you even know if any of that is true or not?”

“I don’t,” One-One said frankly. “But that’s a gamble I’m willing to bet on if I were you. Because the chance of something like that happening is, as far as I’m concerned, a lot more guaranteed than just charging head first towards that dragon.”

_A gamble I’m willing to bet on._

Those words resonated deeply within Tulip. All her life she had never wanted to leave anything to chance. Because it was random, illogical, and unfair.

But now…

On this train of impossibility, random chances and gambling had somehow made a lot more sense than it did before. Because she had finally realized now an oddity within the normal everyday life might seem strange but in a world full of insanity they could hardly compare. Strange things might be hard to explain but at the very least they were not nonsense.

And that was all she had on her hands now. Two choices, and yet the one that made more sense was the one that forced her onto a ridiculous gamble.

But all that mattered very little to the girl at that moment, because the only thing Tulip could think of now was how she didn’t even get to say goodbye to Atticus.


	8. Knowledge is Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the inactivity. I was kind of busy. Also I know Infinity Train's already been greenlit, but I still want to finish this story for my sake.

“Ha… is that all you got?” Klyde cackled like a mad man, “Come at me you fat beast!”

The fire was burning like hell beneath.

But truth was this was not hell.

This was much worse.

One could not even comprehend how a fire like this was possible. Constantly flickering freely between the red and blue spark, creating a field of colorful flowers of flame. It was tragically beautiful. The fire sucked the life out of every plants it touched, replacing the leaves and grass with its own fiery roses, burning with nothing but hate.

The dragon kept on roaring through the shadows of the fire. But Klyde never backed down. His bout with the tentacle monster was a close call, the creature managed to escape in the end. But if it had gone on for a little longer – who knows what would’ve happened between the two of them.

“You’re starting to get on my nerves you fat lizard,” Klyde spat a mouthful to the side, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “I’m going to have fun playing with you.”

“ _Are you sure you’re up to the task, old friend?”_

“Shut up!” Klyde cried, “Why don’t you go play with your treasure vault you crazy wacko? I don’t need to hear your voice by my head.”

But the voice responded with a laugh:

“ _Poor old naive little Klyde… this… this is too big for you… old friend.”_

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

 

 

 

 

Tulip stood idle by the door of this empty train car, meandering about like a soulless shell. This was the third empty car she had ran into while traversing this train. If she wasn’t feeling so down she would’ve already made countless crazy theories on what purpose these cars served.

But no matter how hard she tried, she just could not concentrate. A mind clouded by anger, by sadness will just let the insanity of the situation pass by without a second glance. Made her wonder if she had gone insane yet.

“Miss Tulip,” said Glad-One. “We ought to move on to the next car now.”

“Huh? Oh… right… of course… of course.”

Dee leaned in while tailing behind Tulip.

“You’re still thinking about what happened aren’t you?”

“Please don’t talk to me, Dee,” the girl immediately snapped back. Dee recoiled like a wounded animal.

The woman was trying way too hard. It was hard to tell because of the poor graphics on her screen, but the sadness and guilt was certainly there.

“You doing alright, Dee?” The tiny robot tapped his little foot onto Dee’s mechanical wheels.

“I… I just don’t know what to do…” said the woman, “I’m so lost… I… ever since  _he_  showed up… I… I just can’t think straight anymore. I… um… I never meant to hurt Tulip…”

“We must press on forward,” Sad-One said. “No matter how tragic the story gets.”

Dee raised an eyebrow.

“What does that mean?”

“All I’m saying is we’ve got to push forward if we want to see the end of this. It will be costly, but we have to move on.”

“Hey you two,” Tulip called out from afar. “Are you done chatting yet? Come on, let’s get a move on. If you fall behind because you were goofing around don’t expect me to wait for you guys.”

Everything felt so empty and yet so urgent at the same time. Like a strange mix of anger and tears blending together in a whirlpool raging inside Tulip’s heart. She did not want to think about any of what was going on around her, and yet this invisible sense of duty still somehow managed to push her on beyond her limits. The train wasn’t slowing down, the wasteland all around was still nothing but bloody red rocks and sand, the color of raging sadness.

She grabbed the door knob and pulled herself right into the very next train car.

This one here immediately grabbed her eyes, and yanked her into its world of fantastical wonders.

Just like Corgidia, just like Atlantis, the outside was very deceptive in concealing the secrets inside. No physician or mathematician could explain how a gigantic library as big as this could be contained inside a train car a tenth of its size. It was impossibility pushed to the extreme, pushed to its limits, assuming it had any limits to begin with.

Bright mahogany tables and chairs laid all around the ridiculously large room, book shelves spiraling to the ceiling like skyscrapers, gorgeously jeweled chandeliers dangling from above while shining like miniature stars, this place had got it all. Floor after floor full of stacked book shelves and gorgeous decorative ornaments radiating like gems.

But the thing that really threw off Tulip was the noise, or rather the lack of it. Silence… silence to the point she could hear her own breath. You try turning your head around to all directions and you won’t even find a single shadow anywhere because the chandeliers were so bright. That frankly, was a bit more terrifying than any dark abandoned building.

Of course one simply could not ignore the books stacked up all around the library. None of the shelves were even anywhere near empty, all packed with thick books the size of bricks and crates. The craftsmanship was out of this world, mind-bogglingly amazing. With every cover crafted in a leather that didn’t seem to be real. With every page woven to be as smooth as cotton. There were a few stacks of books by one of the tables near the door, Tulip grabbed one of them and flicked through it, she could immediately notice the quality, the smoothness of the paper. Simply mind numbing.

“Hmm… don’t know if I’d call this a surprise,” Tulip muttered to herself. “I’ve seen weirder stuff on this train. But these books… tsk, what kind of language is this? I can’t read it.”

“Let me give it a shot, Tulip,” Dee said, with slight excitement. “Maybe I can identify it.”

“Fine.”

The girl handed over the book. The pages inside were filled with strange illustrations and passages that did not seem to resemble any known language. That much Tulip was certain. The girl had always been odd in her choice of what to do during her free time. Normal kids would’ve jumped onto their game consoles or sit in front of a computer screen browsing through meaningless content, but Tulip preferred going online to read about the many different languages across the globe. Was it a waste of her free time? Probably, at the time at least. She never learned every single one of them 100 percent all the way through of course, but she’d read about them enough to recognize each of their unique signature style.

Dee fired up her scanners and started to work on the translation. But it didn’t take long for the robot to realize it was a fruitless attempt.

“I have the results from my device here,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like it could identify the language.”

“What a surprise,” said Tulip.

“I don’t get it,” Dee wondered, “how could this be? I could’ve sworn my machines were operating at maximum capacity. Does this mean it’s alien?”

“Well that does seem to be the case doesn’t it?” Tulip said, slamming the book close. “Come on, no use messing around this place any longer. These books are useless to us.”

“Leaving so soon?” Sad-One asked.

“Yeah? Why? Is there a problem?”

“What happened to wanting to help Atticus?” Sad-One asked, “Whatever happened to ‘knowledge is power’? With all these books and resources at your fingertips, all this knowledge and you’re really going to ignore all of it?”

“What exactly do you want me to do?” Asked Tulip, “What good is staying in this place if I can’t read any of the text here? You tell me.”

“Well,” Glad-One cleared his throat, “for one, let’s say we keep on moving forward. Do you know where the exit is, Miss Tulip?”

“I… um…”

“He does have a point Tulip,” Dee told her. “This library is structured in a rather peculiar way. Almost as if it’s intentionally designed as a maze of sort. We’re going to have a hard time if we’re just going to charge in there blind, going in random directions.”

“Besides,” Sad-One continued, “this place… this is no ordinary train car. I have a feeling… that we’re not the only ones here. There are secrets here, Tulip. Valuable secrets. It’d be an absolute waste to pass by without a second glance.”

“Ugh, fine, fine,” Tulip groaned, “I get it. I’ll stay. You happy now?”

“Yes,” Glad-One said.

“But no goofing around, you got that?” Tulip huffed, almost exhausted, “Alright… let’s see what we got here.”

Tulip begrudgingly picked up another book on the table. She flipped through the pages one by one. Yet the same incomprehensible language kept showing up all over the place. There was not a single thing in these pages that looked familiar. One moment the words looked like squiggling worms going all over the pages, the next the words turned into solid boxes and random strokes that went in random directions. Tulip tried her best to identify any pattern she could find between the lines, but the longer she read on, the more confusing and random it just became.

“Argh, this is hopeless!” Tulip cried, “What on earth does it mean?”

“Giving up so soon, Tulip?” Sad-One said.

“Be quiet, One-One. You’re the one who got us all in this mess in the first place.”

“Starting to point fingers?” Sad-One wondered, “That’s not like you at all, to be so irrational. I never thought I, of all people, would get to you so easily.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Tulip snapped.

“We’ve only been here for a little while,” One-One said. “Doesn’t make sense to just drop it half way through.”

“I don’t know what else to do, alright?” The girl cried in frustration. “All of this is just too much for my brain to process. Books that talk gibberish? Walking robots? Cryptic poems and carvings in caves? DRAGONS? It’s like I’m not even in the real world anymore, as if I’m stuck in a fictional world. But… no, that would make too much sense. Fiction has plots and story arcs that follow a logical flow.”

“But… what if…” Glad-One wondered, “… we really are trapped in a fictional world?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Tulip. “That would suggest a degree of malleability on reality itself. As if the laws of physics can be changed, poof, just like that on a whim. You’d have to have a very high level of awareness of the planes of existence to even begin thinking about doing something like that. There are of course some theories out there that propose that our perceived reality is in fact just a simulation of sort, or some nonsense like that. As if our universe can be programmed like a…”

Tulip froze in place that very instant. Widening her eyes, a sound of ringing was struck in her head.

“What?” One-One asked.

“What’s wrong, Tulip?” Dee turned towards the pondering little girl.

The girl turned over to the pile of books laying on the table. Staring at them like they had just whispered some disturbing secrets to her ears. Like ghosts possessing the pages, haunting the living world because of some unfinished business.

“Programmed…” she whispered under her breath, “are these books truly written in a different language? Or does someone on this train have something to hide?”

Tulip leapt right out of her seat with a strange newfound determination. She dug through the pile of books lying on the table, flipping through the pages one by one with a pair of deadly stare that she’d never shown before. Red, furious, and full of willpower beyond any mortal limitation.

The girl flipped through a few pages in one book then immediately put it down and moved on to the next book. Neither One-One nor Dee understood what she was trying to accomplish. But they saw the look on her eyes and they knew she wouldn’t take kindly to being disturbed.

The longer she read on the more she realized that each book contained just as much, if not more confusing squiggles as the last. They were all over the pages, unrecognizable and meaningless. But the strange thing about it that Tulip began to notice was although they were unintelligible, they were  _not_  disorganized. An important distinction. These words weren’t going all over the place like they were trying to be an abstract painting. These were clearly structured in a way to make paragraphs, sentences, and words.

“I knew it,” Tulip whispered. “What exactly are you trying to hide there… I wonder… show me your secrets.”

“Miss Tulip,” Glad-One called. “Would you mind telling us what you’re working on?”

“All in good time, my two-minded little friend… in good time,” the girl began scratching her chin as her eyes scanned all the opened books before her eyes.

She snapped her fingers then lunged straight towards one of the red books by the corner of the table. Turning it to a random page then placed it down after clearing the table for some space.

“Alright, let’s see if this goes anywhere,” Tulip rubbed her hands together. “One-One, take that green book over there and place it right across this red book here why don’t you? Just do what I did and turn to a random page.”

“Roger that Miss Tulip.”

“And Dee.”

“Yes?” The woman’s face lit up slightly.

“You’ve got big arms yeah? Why don’t you make good use of them? Take the books here and do what I do. Turn to a random page and set them down right here.”

“Okay, but what about the color?”

“Heh… you catch on quick,” Tulip smirked. “Just follow my lead. You’ll figure it out.”

“Alrighty then.”

The two robots still did not fully understand what Tulip was trying to accomplish. But the more they set down the books the more they realized that she was arranging them in a circle of some sort. They couldn’t tell what the circle was for. But there was a pattern. Once the green book was placed across the red book, Tulip began working slowly to the sides, placing more books starting from the red. To its right were one with an orange cover, then another one with a yellow cover after that and in the end connecting One-One’s book across the other side of the table with a light green book.

“Now Dee you do the other side. Connect the circle with the purple, dark blue and blue books, in that order.”

“Right.”

Dee went ahead and did just that. Flipping the books to a random page each and laid them on the table in a circle, connecting all the books together.

And the moment she laid down the last book of the bunch – everything became clear.

Tulip smirked confidently:

“Heh… Eureka.”

And there on the table, as clear as day. It was as if the answer popped out of nowhere right from under their nose. As if it was lying there all this time, taunting them, mocking them for not being able to figure out the secrets it was holding. This was truly something only a mad man could come up with. Which kind of made Tulip questioned her own sanity.

They took one step back, and there they could see the unintelligible squiggles on the pages connecting with one another. Connecting from one book to the next. What seemed like meaningless doodles now formed a clear image when put together in this formation.

It was a snake biting its own tail.

“Ouroboros,” Dee whispered in shock.

“That’s right… no doubt about it.”

One-One then proceeded to roll around the book formation, all the way from one end to the other like a child admiring a gift he just received for Christmas.

“Hmm… yup, looks like a snake over on this side, too,” Glad-One called from afar. “But what exactly does this mean? I haven’t a single clue.”

“Hmm…”

Tulip scratched her chin, looking at the image of this serpent. A keen eye would’ve noticed by then that Tulip had become a bit… different. Different compared to when she first boarded the train. There was this strong aura around her that was overwhelming to anybody around her. Dee even noticed that Tulip had not blinked once for the last twenty minutes. But her robotic mind could not comprehend the reason why.

It was as if a demon had taken over the girl’s soul.

“Alright…” Tulip smirked slightly, “Let’s crack open to see what secrets lie behind the phantoms shall we?”

“What?”

“Dee,” Tulip said aloud, almost shouting, “Here’s what I want you to do. There are approximately eight shelves scattered across this entire library that are missing a book or two. I believe that those missing books are right here on this table. I want you to go over to those shelves and look for those empty spaces where these books were supposed to be and give me their locations. I want info on labels, codes, anything you can find.”

“I can do you one better,” Dee smiled excitedly, “I can scan a large portion of the library to find the shelves where these books belong quicker than you can say ‘knowledge is power.’”

“Show me your power then.”

Dee nodded, and in an instant her screen turned pale blue as she fired up her scanning program. Her monitor began violently bursting out lights that slowly crawled all over the library from the wooden blanks they were standing on to the topmost shelves on the floors above them. It was like a wild fire spreading across every inch of this wooden surface. It instantly reminded Tulip of the hateful dragon fire that was burning the green forest.

Tulip stared at the blue light, unblinking… and full of anger.

“Got it,” Dee said after a minute of scanning, “Eight books, eight shelves, eight empty spaces.”

“Good, now read out their location to me, why don’t you?”

“Right. Ahem… first, the red book, it’s located on the first shelf to the left on the fifth floor. It’s the number 01.18-E shelf.”

“Hmm… what do you reckon the decimal point is there for?” Tulip asked.

“If I have to guess… the library is most likely arranged like an X and Y axis. The number before the period being the X and the number after being Y. So 01.18 means the eighteenth shelf down the first ‘column.’ Think in terms of a spreadsheet.”

“Makes sense,” Tulip said, “Let’s keep up the pace here Dee.”

“You got it. Blue book, 19.08-E, fifth floor. Orange, 71.21-D, fourth floor. Green, 08.15-W, on floor 23.”

“Wow, I wonder how far up this library goes,” Glad-One said in delight. “It sure does go up a long way.”

“Continue, Dee.” Tulip demanded.

“Yellow, 23.08-Y, floor 25. Light green, 08.05-S, floor 19. Purple, 25.15-U, floor 21. Dark blue 19.01-D, fourth floor.”

“I see…” Tulip began tapping her chin once again. But it didn’t look like she was thinking or racking her brain for the answer.

No… she looked as if she had already known the answer before Dee could even identify the books.

“Elementary,” Tulip commented with a smirk. “Listen up, here’s what I want you to do.”

“Wait a minute,” said Dee, “don’t tell me you’ve already figured out the solution to all this.”

Tulip merely responded with a smirk.

“Impossible…”

“Dee, the yellow, orange and light green books. Put them over here.”

“Alright.” She proceeded to grab the three books from the circle, placing them in front of the girl.

“You still haven’t figured it out haven’t you?” Tulip continued to grin, almost as if maliciously, “Do I have to spell it out for you two?”

The two bots looked at her, obviously confused.

“Here’s the deal,” Tulip explained, “you two noticed how the books here when put together in a color wheel form this image of the serpent Ouroboros correct?”

“What?” Glad-One cried in shock, “I don’t understand.”

“Was that what you were doing all this time?” Sad-One asked, “Arranging the books in some sort of color wheel, as you call it, according to the color of each book?”

“I’m surprised it took you this long to figure that out, One-One,” said Tulip. “I mean look at Dee, she figured it out ages before you two clowns over here.”

“I wouldn’t call either of you a clown,” said Dee, “both of you are very nice boys, but it’s true. I did correctly guessed what Tulip was trying to do arranging the books in such a manner. What I have hard time wrapping my head around, though, is how did you even managed to come up with such a specific… um… method, shall we call it?”

“One of the first things you learn in coding class is implementing color onto a website,” Tulip explained. “I took that class a long time ago. The books on the table here seemed off somehow. It gave me a hunch.”

“A hunch?” Sad-One asked. “You didn’t have anything to go off on other than a mere hunch?”

“It was more than nothing,” She shrugged. “We would’ve still be scratching our heads if I didn’t listen to my guts.”

“Okay, that much I follow,” Dee scratched her chin, “but what does any of this have to do with the books and their location on the shelves?”

“They are codes.”

“Pardon?”

“Codes, ciphers, whatever you want to call it,” said Tulip. “Every single book on this table represent a message, encrypted in a way no sane person would ever even dare to think of. It’s a message. It’s trying to tell us something. I know it sounds loony, but here, I’ll prove it to you with these three books here – yellow, orange, and light green. Now Dee, do you mind reading out to me again the location of the yellow book?”

“Oh, um… it’s 23.08-Y on the twenty-fifth floor.”

“Correct. Now Dee… ahem,” Tulip cleared her throat, “remind me again what’s the twenty-third letter of the alphabet?”

“Um… it’s W… isn’t it?”

“You see where I’m going with this?”

It took a second for Dee to start processing what Tulip meant, and it became so clear to her. The woman’s eyes started enlarging on her screen, gradually increasing more pixels.

“Oh my goodness…” Dee gasped, followed by another smirk from Tulip.

“Yup.”

“Wait a minute, Miss Tulip, I’m still quite lost with all this. What does all of this means?”

“Really One-One? Ugh… fine, all of the numbers of the books’ locations here are just encrypted codes. Somebody thought it’d be a good idea to replace the regular alphabet with the numbers so nobody could understand the message.”

“Ooh, I see,” said Glad-One, finally understanding, “I don’t get it.”

“Ugh, it’s not rocket science okay? The code for the yellow book here is 23.08-Y. So just replace 23 with the twenty-third letter in the alphabet, and 08 with the eighth and we are left with the word ‘ _why’._  Bah, you know what? I don’t have time to explain to you bozos. You figure it out on your own. In the meantime, Dee and I will just be decoding this whole mess here. Which probably won’t be long. Come on Dee, the code for the light green and orange please.”

“Right. It’s 08.05-S and 71.21-D respectively.”

“Good, so the eighth letter gives us an H, the fifth is E,” Tulip muttered as she reached into her backpack to take out a notebook, writing down all the words they managed to crack. “This means the light green’s code will give us a ‘ _hes.’_ ”

“What about the orange book?” Dee asked, “There are only 26 letters in the alphabet as far as I know. I fairly certain we’ve never had anywhere up to 70 letters.”

“This just means that we have to break the word down even further,” said Tulip. “Don’t think of it as a three letter word. Instead separate the numbers into seven, twelve and one. This will give us G – L – A – D. And voila, we have ‘ _glad.’_ ”

“Putting the phrases together now,” Dee said, “and we have… ‘ _why hes glad’…_ is that right?”

“Hmm… that’s a bit odd don’t you think?”

“I believe,” Dee explained, “it’s supposed to be ‘ _why he is glad?’_  in the form of a question.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking as well. Whoever left this message behind probably wanted to make it as short as he could. So they probably shortened ‘ _he is_ ’ to ‘ _he’s_ ’, but since there’s no apostrophe in the English alphabet he…”

“… was too lazy to even be bothered with?” Glad-One said in a cherry tone.

“Yeah,” Tulip rolled her eyes, “I suppose.”

“I have to say, though,” Dee scratched her head, “what on earth does ‘ _why he’s glad?_ ’ even mean?”

“I don’t know. But let’s not linger on the thought for too long. We should decrypt this pile of books first before anything else. We’re bound to find some meaning behind it.”

“Good point.”

The three of them proceeded to sort through the rest of the books, trying to identify what the hidden message behind it meant. Fortunately it wasn’t long before they discovered what all the codes stood for. But what was a bit odd for Dee was the fact that Tulip was very specific in what books she wanted to group together. Yellow, orange, and light green would be one group. Green, blue, and dark blue would be another.

“But why group them up like this?” Dee asked, “Is there a certain pattern you noticed somewhere?”

“Nope,” Tulip replied, “just a gamble I’m taking.”

As soon as she mentioned the word ‘gamble’, she then looked over to One-One with a sudden urge to wink at him for some odd reason. But One-One didn’t react in any particular way.

“Here we go, green, blue, and dark blue… they spell out – ‘ _how she sad’…_ this fella here sure love to save his words doesn’t he? Tsk… this… just doesn’t make any sense. Why he’s glad? How she sad? What kind of questions are these?”

Tulip quickly turned to the Ones, who were, strangely enough, not goofing around like usual.

“What do you know about this?” She asked, “You two ought to be experts at this sadness, and um… glad…ness?”

“I’m afraid we’re just as clueless as you are, Tulip,” said Sad-One. “Clueless in eternal darkness, darkness of despair.”

She sighed:

“I should’ve guessed. No point thinking about it now. Let’s decipher the remaining books.”

“I’ve already got that covered for you,” Dee told her, “but um…”

“But what?”

“We’ve got a problem,” the robot held up the two remaining books – red and purple, “We had eight books in total and now there’s only two books left. It’s not going to be enough to form a sentence.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Here, the red book spells out the word ‘ _are’,_ while the purple book spelled out ‘ _you.’_  It’s not enough you see.”

That’s true, Tulip thought to herself. There was only eight books lying on the table when they first came into the library. The books were out of place, an inconsistency in this neatly structured library that did not have a single inch out of line. Tulip had a theory on why this was the case a little while back, but she just wasn’t entirely sure. But now with all the evidence gathered in front of her she could definitively tell one very important thing – these eight books and their ciphers weren’t the work of the Conductor.

The codes were way too simple and elementary for it to be crafted by that mad man. If he had really wanted to hide something he wouldn’t have used such a straightforward encryption, and he wouldn’t have left it in the open like this either. Tulip realized then that encryptions weren’t meant to keep secrets hidden from sight. Encryptions were merely the couriers, and they deliver the message, a message meant to be read.

Someone on this train wanted to leave behind a message.

But who?

That was the question.

There was only eight books here on the table. Tulip wanted to look around some more to see if they had missed anything, but deep in her gut she felt a touch of enigmatic darkness. It was a strange way of describing that feeling, Tulip knew that, but it was the only way she could make sense of it. She knew there was something missing, but she felt as if she already had everything here in front of her.

She heard whispers beyond the wooden shelves, deep in the halls of the leather and the papers. They were telling her something, but it was too faint, she couldn’t make it out.

Tulip began turning her head, with her eyes wandering all over the place. The books on the second floor, the tables on the third, she scanned them all. Yet the whisper still persisted. Faint and delicate as a butterfly.

She closed her eyes and tried to block out all the voices in her head, and to her surprise – she had never been able to see so clear.

In the darkness – a clock ticking, a snake hissing, a trumpet roaring. They kept on going, without a sign of slowing down.

And even beyond all that, deeper in the madness, the black void, something else was trying to resurface.

A black book.

It hovered before her. The label on the side read 13.01-D. Tulip mumbled to herself, trying to decipher what it meant. But the book violently flipped open before she could finish her train of thought.

The pages were empty with the exception of a single phrase carved down the very middle of the book:

_Are you mad?_

When Tulip opened her eyes again, Dee had collapsed on the floor, shattered in pieces while One-One was nowhere to be seen.

Tulip glared down the smashed pile of metal, her eyes wide open. The whispers were gone, but in its place was the spiraling madness of the roaring train engine. She never even noticed it before now.

“TULIP!”

The girl spun her head, and there he stood – Koo the tuxedo wearing little owl.

“Koo?” Tulip cried, “How are you here?”

“That isn’t my name,” the owl said firmly, glaring down with unblinking eyes.

“What? Wh… how… alright, enough games! What’s going on here?”

The owl sighed:

“You still haven’t figured it out? Pathetic. Whatever happened to the Tulip of old I will never know.”

“What did you say?”

“Why do you think you’re so comfortable here in this library, Tulip the Literate? So… shrewd and clever in here of all places? Who do you think was the one leaving behind these clues for you to find?”

She looked at the owl with a confused look, then briefly glanced back the pile of books, then looked back at the owl with a pair of eyes engulfed in bewildered shock. A hunch deep inside began to resurface.

“I… was the one… who left the message?”


	9. Vision

_45_

_The train will be leaving shortly._

_Please take your seats._

_Ticket please._

_All aboard!_

 

 

 

 

“It’s going to be okay, I’m telling ya. You don’t have to worry about a thing, ol’ boy… look, here she comes now.”

“ _Ticket please.”_

“He-hey, long time no see. You’re lookin’ fine as always. So, have you thought about the offer yet, love?”

“ _Don’t be cute with me you no good stowaway. Are you going to show me your ticket this time? Or are you just going to keep on hitching this ride for free?”_

“Come on, just help me out this time. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

“ _Dear lord, you two better be onto something big, or you’ll never see the end of this.”_

“Thank you darlin’.”

“ _Don’t call me that._ ”

“Sorry – Tulip, my partner here doesn’t know the meaning of the word respect. His ego is bigger than his brain you see. You’ll have to forgive him.”

“ _Yeah, I guess it can’t be helped.”_

“So how are you fitting in? Liking your new job?”

“ _It’s boring. You go around punching holes in tiny pieces of paper. Where’s the fun in that?”_

“Oh don’t be like that. All you have to do is be a little creative. Make it a challenge for yourself. Like say, try doing it with your eyes closed. Look at me, I’ve been doing that so much I’ve considered blindfolding myself forever. Boy wouldn’t that be something?”

“ _That sounds idiotic. No wonder you two bozos never get anything done on this train.”_

“Can’t blame us for trying. Lord knows how long we’ve been here. Look, there – when we get off the next stop I’m going to take a little leak. When I come back we’re going to give it another go. You in Tulip?”

“ _Don’t try and drag me into your mess. I’m just going to stand by and watch you two fail spectacularly. No more, no less.”_

“That’s the spirit!”

_44_

 

 

 

 

_The train will be departing the station shortly._

_Please return to your designated seats._

_All aboard!_

_Ticket please._

“Excuse me sir, have you seen my daughter? I’ve been looking for her all over th…”

“Get lost old man.”

“Um… pardon me sir, have you by any chance seen my daughter? She’s about this tall, with long red hair and…”

“Sorry, but I’m in a hurry.”

“Please, madam, have you seen my daughter? She was just here a moment ago. I need to find her, to tell her I’m… please.”

“I don’t really have time for this. Excuse me.”

“Have you seen my daughter around here? I told her to stay here a while back…”

“Out of my way! I’m going to miss my train.”

“No please, I can’t do this… please… come back…”

_43_

 

 

 

 

“Papa, papa, where did Atticus go? He was just here a second ago.”

“ATTICUS! Where are you?”

“Come on kids, let’s go. Your mother’s waiting.”

“No, papa, please. We can’t leave without Atticus.”

“Well I’m sure he’ll turn up sooner or later. He’s a very curious little boy after all. Remember that one time he ran off after dark only to return in the morning with the ball you lost by the river? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

_42_

 

 

 

 

“Look here pal, those fishermen are coming this way real soon. What am I supposed to tell them, huh?”

“I don’t know. That’s not my problem. That’s your problem. You’re the one who got the train stations all mixed up.”

“Look, do me a solid just this once will ya? Heck, I’ll even throw in a portion of our profit if that helps. I mean all y’all are going the same direction anyway, just let us off the next station and nobody’ll even know we were onboard.”

“For the last time this is NOT a cargo train. This is a train for  _passengers._  What do I have to do to get it through your thick skull?”

“Come on, there’s gotta be something you can do. My boss is going to kill me if she finds out about this. You know how long it took for us to haul this pile of fish from the docks? It crushed my spine real bad, I’m going to be sore for the rest of the week for sure.”

“Why do you even carry around that much fish anyway?”

“Beats me. Some crazy rich snob decided to buy a bunch of seafood for a party or something stupid like that. Don’t ask me how I know.”

“Huh… weird.”

“So can you help me or not?”

“No can do. You want this resolved, you’re going to have to take it to the conductor. But I doubt he’ll budge an inch. That man’s been quite grumpy this past weekend. Lost another round of cards you see. I told him gambling ain’t no good for him, but he didn’t listen.”

_41_

 

 

 

 

“ _Hey, you there! Little girl. What are you doing here?”_

“What? Who? Me? Um… nothing, nothing. Why do you ask?”

“ _Where are your parents? You shouldn’t be out here all by yourself._ ”

“They’re… around… don’t worry about it.”

“ _What are you doing with that screwdriver there?”_

“What? What screwdriver?”

“ _That screwdriver, the one you’re holding behind your back.”_

“Oh this old thing? Well, one of your um… mechanics, um… dropped it from their toolbox. I was going around looking for him.”

“ _Really now?”_

“Yeah, I’ve been looking around for half an hour now and I can’t find him anywhere. It’s like a black hole sucked him away to some far distant place, it’s weird.”

“ _I assure you if that were to happen I will file the appropriate insurance papers. Not to mention I’d have to deal with the labor union, and also the pile of court paperwork I’d probably have to fill out. They would not be happy to find a worker disappearing from his workplace without a trace. That’s precisely why I made sure I didn’t hire any mechanic to work on this lovely train here. The cogs and the screws have already given me enough of a headache.”_

 _“_ Oh… so you’re saying… um… you’re the one… who built this train?”

“ _Quite the guess there, young lady. You should consider fortune telling. But I wouldn’t say I built this entire whole train. But I did work on it extensively. Just look at it. Hear the roaring of the engine, the trails of smoke left behind as this beauty speeds off to the horizon. It’s breathtaking I say.”_

“Yeah I have no idea what you’re on about.”

“ _That’s funny, considering you’ve been snooping around the train, digging into its innards for the past half hour as you said.”_

“I swear to you, it’s not what it looks like.”

“ _Oh? It’s not?”_

“I was about to board the train, when I saw some weird sparkling noises by the side of the train. Figured the circuit board must’ve been busted or something so I went to check.”

“ _Likely story.”_

“You don’t believe me?”

“ _Nice try young lady, you expect me to believe that after that whole story about the mechanic? On top of that you suggested that this train of all things would malfunction, something I take offense to, just so you know. Just get on the train will you? And show me your ticket while you’re at it.”_

_40_

 

 

 

 

“ _What would you like to drink, good sir?”_

 _“_ Huh? Oh, just some orange juice please, thank you.”

“ _Orange juice? What on earth does that stand for?”_

“Nothing. I just wanted some juice.”

“ _If you wanted your juice so badly why didn’t go get it yourself? Why call me over? I thought we were going over the plan or something.”_

“Relax, Tulip, relax, alright? The chips are falling into places. You’ve got nothing to be worried about.”

_“Oh geez… where’s that partner of yours? He was just here a moment ago.”_

“Some senile old man came by asking about his missing horse or something. Said his name was Fredrick or something.”

“ _The old man’s name or the horse’s name?”_

“I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. Our home boy followed the old man to the back car there when the geezer’s nurse came looking. Said he was curious about the old fella, wanted to know more of him.”

“ _Well get off your butt and go find him then. Tell him to get back here before they get suspicious.”_

 _“_ Not to worry, he’s a professional. We both are. He’ll be back before you know it.”

“ _This better work out or I’ll be kicking you both off this train myself. That’s a promise.”_

_39_

 

 

 

 

“Tulip… psst… Tulip… sweetheart… wake up…”

“Wha… are we there yet?”

“Well, no, but look.”

“Huh, oh wow – look daddy, it’s Hoover Dam.”

“That’s right sweetie. And you know what that means right? We’ll be passing right over the Colorado River. And wouldn’t you know it, a little beyond that is a little place called Boulder City. And look, you can probably see Vegas from here.”

“I bet it’d be really easy to spot if it was at night. We could probably see the lights, hear the music.”

“Oh, definitely.”

“Can we drop by there some time, daddy? I want to hear your band play live. Mom always told me about how you and your band were always so… magical and enchanting with your music. I don’t really know what that means but I want to see it for myself.”

“I… of course, darling. Of course. One of these days for sure. I’ll even let you meet the old gang. And we’ll give you the best performance you’ll ever see in your whole life. That’s a promise.”

“I love you, daddy.”

“I love you, too.”

_38_

 

 

 

 

“Ugh, where IS that stupid bird brain? He was supposed to be here 20 minutes ago.”

“ _Ooh, just relax Tulip, we’ve got this. Ooh we’re professionals, Tulip, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Pfft, professionals my buttocks.”_

“Alright, that does it. You stay here, Tulip. I’m going to go look for that bird brain. When I get my hands on him, I’m going to pluck out his eyeballs.”

“ _Say hi to him for me.”_

_37_

_The train will be departing shortly._

_Please return to your seats._

_Ticket please._

“Hey there little girl, it seems to me that you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table on this very train here.”

“You’re barking up the wrong tree there, mister. I’m not here to join your little boy band – on the account that, as you can see, I am not a boy. You also really need to work on your lines there. If the opening line of your sales pitch is literally a line ripped straight from one of the most well-known musicals in the 60s, then you better go find a new line of job.”

“Whoa, easy there little lady. You’re a feisty one aren’t you? Ha, you’ve got guts kid, saw straight through my act. I respect that. I have to ask, though, how on earth did you know what I was trying to do?”

“My dad used to take me to a lot of concerts when I was little, he brought me to some musical shows along the way, so I picked it up after him.”

“I see you have the blood of an actress within you.”

“I’m more a music type of girl.”

“I see. Either way, you can’t really fault a guy for trying. After all, what are the chances of a young child knowing about such an old reference?”

“Not very high, I suppose.”

“Exactly. You know how kids are these days, always on their phones wasting time doing who knows what, sharing meaningless content over and over again.”

“Well, it seems today’s not your lucky day now that you’ve run into me. So why don’t you skedaddle off the train before I call the authorities.”

“Alright, alright. You can talk, you can talk, you can bicker, you can talk but…”

“ _Get out!”_

_36_

 

 

 

 

“Howdy partner, now what can I get yer for?”

“I’m looking for a certain someone who may have passed through here.”

“Lots of people come and go through this place, buddy. You can’t expect me to remember every single one of those faces who come in and buy drinks off me do ya?”

“Well, this fella is a little different. He travels on a train. It’s hard to describe what he looks like. But you’ll know him when you see him.”

“I think I may have a vague idea about this particular character.”

“Yeah? Lay it on me.”

“Weird fella, come by here every so often. Maybe once every week or so, not entirely certain. Anyway, the guy would come in here every time um… and every time I ask him what he’d like for a drink, every time he’d say he wasn’t thirsty, and that he was looking for barrel cactus. Told him I had some lying in the back and he told me he’ll take as much as I had. No idea why he needed so much of those things.”

“Did he say anything else? About where he came from? Where he was going?”

“Nope, nothing.”

“Hmm…”

“Actually… now that you mention it. He  _did_  mention some things about a railroad up north somewhere. Which is strange because the only railroad around here for miles is the one near the abandoned coal mine. Sounds like something straight out of a spooky folk tale if you ask me.”

_35_

 

 

 

 

_ALL ABOARD!_

“ _Hello… Tulip…”_

_“Um… hey?”_

_“May I sit here?”_

_“I don’t see why not.”_

_“Ah… have you seen the paper this morning? Crazy stuff eh? All this train robbery nonsense is going to put me out of business one of these days for sure.”_

_“How did you know my name?”_

_“Pardon?”_

_“My name. You called me Tulip. How did you know my name?”_

_“Well, ahem… would you believe me if I say it was a lucky guess?”_

_“I don’t believe in luck.”_

_“Let’s agree to disagree. I didn’t get to where I am today without a little guts and a little luck. But I take it that that’s something you yourself haven’t experienced before.”_

_“There’s a reason why nonsense like astrology isn’t considered science. It’s not quantifiable, not measurable.”_

_“Just because you can’t see it, can’t observe it, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”_

_“It’s not science.”_

_“Like I said, agree to disagree.”_

_“Sure. This conversation was going nowhere anyway.”_

_“Ha-ha… so… where are you going? Dropping off the stations near here? Or are you going to be sitting here for a while?”_

_“It’ll be a long while.”_

_“Is that so?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“But why?”_

_“You’re awfully nosey aren’t you?”_

_“I’m just curious that’s all.”_

_“Why? Don’t you have a job to do? Running a train, going around punching holes in tickets?”_

_“Huh, you’re right. I wonder why the train’s still running without me doing anything about it. Hmm… ha-ha, I guess it’s a mystery that the world will never know.”_

_“What on earth does that even mean?”_

_“Just a fancy way of saying a magician never reveals his secrets.”_

_“Quite bold of you to claim that, and frankly, quite arrogant.”_

_“Perhaps, perhaps. Doesn’t mean it’s not true though.”_

_“Are you trying to claim validity in something as absurd as magic?”_

_“I don’t know. Am I?”_

_“Are you just trying to push my buttons?”_

_“I don’t know. Am I?”_

_“I don’t know why I’m even talking to you.”_

_“You are on my train. Why are you so adamant about not believing in what I’ve told you?”_

_“Why are you so curious about other people’s businesses?”_

_“It’s just sad to see a little girl all out here alone with nobody by her side. I thought I’d give you some company. I’ve seen my fair share of rebellious teenagers, but rarely do they actually run away from home like you’re doing here. And even rarer do they follow through to the end.”_

_“That another one of your lucky guesses? Or do you just assume that about every child who boards this train?”_

_“How about I just show you how I know?”_

_“Go ahead… be my guest.”_

_“Hold up just a minute. Let me just – find – my – ooh – suitcase… oh, oh, ooh… aha! Ta-da!”_

_“Learned that in your amateur magician school?”_

_“I’m still learning alright? You try making things appear out of thin air, see how you like it. I accidentally made some stuff disappear this one time while I was practicing. Safe to say cowboys and pirates don’t like to lose their hats. It makes them super cranky. You couldn’t imagine what I had to go through to kick those blokes off the train. Awful – just awful.”_

_“So… what’s in the suitcase?”_

_“A chessboard.”_

_“That’s your secret? That’s how you know all these things about me?”_

_“No, no, nothing like that. I’m just getting started. It’s not even the first act yet. You have to wait for the story’s climax, wait for the buildup. You can’t rush art. Be patient, play some games with me and I’ll show you.”_

_“Um, I’m not very good at chess.”_

_“Oh come on, Tulip. We both know that’s not true.”_

_“Another lucky guess?”_

_“Absolutely.”_

_“I’ll be the judge of that. Set ‘em up. I’m going to beat you at your own game.”_

_“Already ahead of ya. Tell you what, I’ll let you be white. You go first.”_

_“Huh… okay, this some sort of specialized game you made up? Because all I’m seeing are pawns on the board here. This some sort of pawn-only game of chess?”_

_“Oh no, no, no. Not at all. It is a really special game of chess regardless. Just wait and see.”_

_“Huh. Okay.”_

_“You know the neat thing about this board here is you don’t even need to move the pieces yourself. Just say the move aloud and the pieces will move for you. Pretty cool huh?”_

_“So the board is rigged?”_

_“Not in a way that’s beneficial to me or you. We’re both on a level playing field here.”_

_“Hmm…”_

_“Whenever you’re ready.”_

_“No tricks?”_

_“Nope. No tricks. Promise.”_

_“Fine, E4.”_

_“E5.”_

_“D3.”_

_“D6.”_

_“H3.”_

_“H6.”_

_“Are you just mirroring my moves to tick me off?”_

_“I told you. It’s a special game of chess. Watch.”_

_“What the…”_

_“Oh yeah.”_

_“Am I… just seeing things?”_

_“Probably not.”_

_“Was this piece here before? I swear, this was a pawn by the corner of my side just a second ago. Why is it a knight? Did you swap it out while I wasn’t looking?”_

_“Ah ha-ha, I assure you if I could do that I’d be swapping out a lot more than just pieces on a chessboard. I’m still an amateur magician you see.”_

_“So what? The pieces just randomly transformed?”_

_“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a pattern, maybe there isn’t. Only one way to find out.”_

_“Hmm…”_

_“Whenever you’re ready.”_

_“Best two out of three?”_

_“Sweetheart, I’ll play as many games with you as you want. We’re going to be here for a while after all.”_

_“Alrighty then, Knight to B3.”_

_34_

“ _Places everyone, places! Places for act one.”_

“Hoo! Where did this fire come from, Tulip? Getting excited?”

“ _Excited? Oh, I’m beyond that my friend. Way beyond that point now. This is MY show you hear? It’s going to be awesome.”_

“That’s good to hear. Because we only get one shot of this. Once we go through with it, there’s no going back.”

“ _Good. After today, I won’t want to go back.”_

“Should I be worried about all this? About you I mean.”

“ _Not in the slightest. SO… everybody gather around, gather around! Let’s go over the plan one last time. Right. You all know your parts?”_

“Of course. I’ll be playing the part of the traveling salesman on his trip across the America, selling exotic birds like… an owl or a magpie. I’ll walk up to the old mumbling gentlemen sitting by the window and start some trouble like the typical con… um I mean salesman, yeah, the typical salesman.”

“I’m going to be the doctor who walks up to the old gentlemen and escort him back to the other car. They won’t suspect a thing with me helping that other old gentleman with the horse and all. They’ll just think I’m helping him away from this crooked swindler. Once I escort him off the premise, we’ll reconvene back here in the lab and wait for your signal.”

“And I’m playing the part of the thief. Staying in the back, waiting for my cue and in the end pretending to get caught. He won’t know what’ll hit him.”

“ _Look at you. It’s like you’re living the part. Well done everybody. After this is over I’ll invite all y’all to a night down the town to celebrate. Drinks are on me.”_

“Don’t think about celebrating just yet. We still have to get through this.”

“ _You’re right. You’re right. Oh and one more thing. If any of you ever feel like you’re going to get caught then just jump into one of those big coolers in the back by those fish cargos. Now I know it’s going to smell really bad, but I’ve been hearing some of the guys talking in the back about loading those fish off to New Orleans or something. That’s where my old man’s band is performing. So just go up to him, tell him I sent you and he’ll give you each a ticket on the next train back home. The alternative would just be walking which isn’t a bad idea if you’re feeling train-sick.”_

“What about you Tulip? What will you be doing? Do you remember your part?”

“ _Of course I do. I’ll be the one dealing with you know who. I’m the one he’s after. It’ll be tough, but I think I can outsmart him this time. I can feel it – in my guts.”_

“Your guts? That’s not like you at all, to follow an instinct instead of a calculated plan.”

“ _This is all part of the equation, I assure you. All up here in my head. I’ve thought this through already, and this is the only possible solution to this problem, the only way we’re going to get out of this. So don’t worry.”_

“I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“ _And one last thing, whatever you do, do NOT go anywhere near the crazy cowboy. That loony is such a pain in the neck to deal with, better to just stay away from him.”_

_33_


	10. Mirror Mirror

“Who are you?” Tulip asked the owl.

“You don’t… remember me?”

“Should I?”

The owl in the little vest sighed in disappointment.

“Are you going to start explaining yourself or what?” Tulip demanded, “How on earth did you even get here? I thought those robots dragged you and that bird away. Why did you say that I was the one who left behind those messages? What on earth does that mean? What exactly is going on here? Who are you?”

“I’m an old friend,” the owl responded. “Koo was the name you gave me. I’ve always hated that name. It destroyed our friendship. It bound me to this place, to you… made me eternally a slave.”

“What? Who? What even is… what on earth are you talking about? I have no memory of this!”

“You don’t remember?” The owl glared at her, “Or are you choosing to forget?”

_Choosing to forget._

Those exact words began lighting up in her mind.

“You really don’t remember do you?”

The owl proceeded to fix the collar of his vest, readjusted his golden monocle, and then began puffing his chest, taking in one big breath:

“Either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table on this very train here.”

And in that moment it was as if a lightning bolt had started to fry Tulip’s brain from the inside out. Burning through the darkness and through the twisted confusing memories. There were still many things she did not understand, but one single light managed to shine through and she was now sure of one thing.

“Koo… it’s you.”

“Took you long enough,” the owl smirked. “That isn’t my name but I suppose that’ll do for now. I’ve been on this train for so long I’ve forgotten what I used to be called.”

“I… I remember… you. You… helped me. We… I still don’t understand. There are so many conflicting memories within me.”

“Just answer me this. Do you remember writing onto these books here in this library?”

“I…”

The girl pondered. There were still so many things bouncing inside her heads all at once. Too many symbols, both vague and complicated. A recurring image of a snake, a trumpet and a few flying books kept on haunting her mind. It meant absolutely nothing to her, but she knew that it must mean something to someone.

“I remember the books,” she said. “But that’s about it.”

The owl gave another sigh, but this time Tulip could not tell if it was of relief or disappointment.

“Alright, I guess it’s time for me to explain to you what’s going on,” said the owl. “Tulip – you have not been on this train for a mere few weeks. Not even months. You’ve been on this train for over a century.”

Tulip couldn’t even begin to describe the shock that was bursting through her brain and her heart. Smashing through her innards as if a high speed train had pierced right through her chest and her mind, crushing through the wall of flesh.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Time works VERY differently here on this train,” Koo explained. “The reason is because this train is an entity that exists outside of space and time.”

“Wh… how… how is that even possible?”

“You know what? I believe the author of this book here,” Koo pointed at a tome covered in brown leather, “would be able to explain everything much better than I.”

Tulip could’ve sworn that the book was not there before, it was as if it had fallen out of its shelf on purpose. As if it was sentient, or perhaps just another cruel joke by fate.

“Who’s the author of the book?” She asked.

“You,” the owl responded.

“Excuse me?”

“Just read the book.”

The girl was obviously hesitant at opening the book. But somehow deep down inside her hands had stopped shaking altogether, the feeling of nervousness – all gone. All that was left was one simple feeling: power. It all felt so familiar. Ever since opening that black book and revealing that phrase ‘are you mad?’ Tulip’s mind had changed. Or perhaps change was the wrong word for it. Perhaps it was merely reverting back to a previous state of familiarity, something she felt in the past but long forgotten.

Tulip turned to the very first page of the book, and to her surprise, it was not gibberish. She read on, just three simple lines that appeared at the very top:

“ _Are you glad?_

_Are you sad?_

_Are you mad?”_

They seemed so familiar to the phrases she had deciphered earlier. But somehow she knew that they weren’t exactly the same.

She flipped the page and began to read the paragraphs on the other side:

“ _I know you may feel like you’ve taken a massive swig from the river Lethe. But I need you to concentrate, for both our sakes. You may feel lost, you may even feel helpless, but I need you to understand one very important truth. YOU are not powerless._

_Among your possession is a notebook, a pencil, and a screwdriver. That may not seem like much but that is more than enough for someone like you. I should know, as I’ve accomplished far more with much less._

_This train is dangerous. And getting off it will be no easy task. It is far more complicated than just simply getting to the front train car, though that in of itself is already near impossible._

_But after decades of studying this mysterious train, I have finally figured out one surefire method of getting to the very front of the train, and it may be the only way for anybody to even hope to one day get off this accursed contraption._

_You have to trick the Conductor._

_It will be immensely difficult, but not impossible. I know because I’ve managed to come closer than anybody else on this train. The proof to that is the very simple fact that not even the Conductor himself understood who the mastermind was behind the greatest con to ever take place in history. He believed it was Klyde ‘the Viper’ Bradshaw, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth._

_I was I, or rather I should say it was you._

_It was the greatest con to ever take place in history, I am proud to say that._

_A flower, a thief, a ‘traveling salesman’, a doctor, you have to see it for yourself to believe it. How intricate the whole situation was. My finest piece of work I’d say. But it wasn’t good enough._

_Keep in mind, just because the Conductor is not invincible, that does not mean he is powerless. He has immense powers over the passengers and mechanical devices of this train, powers beyond any comprehension. For instance, he has the power to erase one’s memory from their mind, but only to a certain extent. He cannot erase the memory of someone unwilling to forget, nor can he erase the mind of someone whose mind is stronger than a box of steel._

_This is where the number on your hand comes in._

_After countless calculations, experimentations and years of collecting data I’ve finally understood how it works. Here’s what I’ve found:_

_Each of those number represents a clue, a hint to the true nature of this train, the true nature of the Conductor and who he is. They represent the amount of mysteries that you need to unearth in order to reach the truth. The higher the number, the more you would have to find. The lower the number goes, the closer you are to the truth. Each human being on this train has a different number, because each person possesses a different state of mind. Each person has their own demons to fight, thus making each person’s level of confusion vastly different from one another. The higher the number, the more confused one becomes, and that is ultimately what makes you weak and susceptible to mind erase. You may have noticed the numbers on your hand starting to go down randomly at some point. It is not random. It is simply your mind catching up to the memories long forgotten. Even a detail as innocuous, as random, as insignificant as the realization that the Conductor does not have the appearance of a lizard will still count towards your number going down. A detail as such may seem so arbitrary, but it can also be the very catalyst that helps you remember the truth. Honestly the pattern to which the number is going down is so difficult to grasp that I myself haven’t fully understand it on a technical level yet, but I know for a fact that such a pattern exists._

_You know more than you think. Use that! Don’t think of this place as a strange wonderland you’ve never been to in your life. Think of this place as an old home in your childhood long forgotten, and all you have to do is remember._

_It may be tough, it may take a long time, maybe even forever, but it is possible. I know for fact it can be done. And I wish you luck on your journey._

_Yours truly…”_

A flash of light began to invade her mind, her ‘ _vision_ ’. There was nothing but a wall of white flashing before her eyes. There she saw images of a young lady in a conductor uniform, two young men wearing a suit and a young doctor in a white lab coat. A roaring train engine began echoing in the distance, and in her mind a green number flickered violently in front of her face.

33

Tulip blinked her eyes as her mind began to drop her back to reality. She shook her head, then instinctively took a glance at the number on her hand – number 33.

“Do… do you remember now?” Koo asked.

Tulip rubbed her palms back and forth, trying to make sure she was not dreaming. But this was no dream. She was sure of it.

“I remember… some… things,” she said. “I remember a young salesman, his partner. I think he was supposed to be you. But then I also have these other memories, memories of when I was younger,  _and_  when… I was older? How is that even possible?”

“Ahem,” Koo cleared his throat, “turn over to chapter two, section four.”

Tulip nodded her head and flipped the page over. Once again, surprised to find it was not gibberish. She read it out loud:

“ _As stated in the previous chapters, this train is a contraption that exists outside of time and space. There are still things we are still not entirely sure about the train but here’s what we know. When you are on this train, time and space will bend to the point so that your infinite selves across the infinite galaxies will cease to exist in their individual timeline and will instead only exist on one singular ‘timeline’, and that timeline is this one, the void where this train exists.”_

“You see,” Koo explained, “this wasn’t the first time this has happened. Countless versions of yourself have gone through this very train car, picked up this book, read it aloud as I stand by listening, explaining, and at one point sooner or later you would eventually get dragged back to the very back of the train with all your memories wiped.”

“My… other selves?”

“Oh yes, there were plenty of you. Probably hundreds, maybe even thousands. All of them different in everything but name, from the way they talk, their personality to their world views and values.”

“I don’t understand. If all them were me then how come they were different?”

“Just because they behaved differently doesn’t mean they weren’t a part of you,” said Koo. “It’s like a spectrum of different emotions and different states of mind. All seemingly very distinct, but all originated from the same source. Think back to a moment when you were angry and compare that to when you were happy. Two very different states of mind, but still the same person.”

“I…” Tulip rubbed her temple, sighing. “This is too much for me to process.”

“Hmm… perhaps this will help you understand more clearly. Come follow me.”

“To where?”

“The next train car.”

 

 

 

 

The moment they opened the door leading into this car, Tulip was absolutely convinced she was not on the train anymore. She had seen this door led them into a massive library as tall as any skyscraper. She had seen the door revealed to her a vast endless desert reaching beyond the horizon. She had even seen this door opened into an entire underwater kingdom.

But now the door had opened them up to an entirely new dimension, stretching far into the distance in terms of both height and distance, with seemingly no end in sight in the distance between the ceiling and the floor, as it was also the case between the wall behind Tulip and the other side of the car.

The walls didn’t even seem to be solid, almost malleable to quite frank, susceptible to change. They seemed like a black void more than anything else, a black void glowing behind beautiful purple stars that shined radiantly all over the room. But that wasn’t what made the room shined brighter than a burning shooting star.

That would be the mirrors.

Plastered all over the walls, the ceiling, and everywhere in between were endless sets and rows of luminous mirrors, emanating light like a sharp piece of diamond, placed into the sky by the gods. It didn’t even feel like they were reflecting lights from some other source, it felt more like they were shining in this void all by themselves.

“What is this place?” Tulip asked.

“A place of memories, shattered dreams,” Koo said. “Each of these mirrors will show an aspect of yourself. Perhaps an alternate reality, perhaps who you were in the past, who you will be in the future.”

Tulip glanced down below the platform she was barely standing on, trying to find a way to get across to the mirrors as she glanced down the eternal dark void looming below her feet.

“You don’t actually have to worry about falling down,” Koo told her. “There’s barely any gravity in this room.”

And it was true. Tulip could totally hop off the platform without worrying about plummeting to her doom. It didn’t really feel like she was flying rather slowly floating towards the bottom, she could still technically ‘swim’ to wherever she wanted. It was just really awkward to move around at first.

“Hold onto that book, Tulip,” Koo said as he flew by her side, “it’s important.”

Tulip approached one of the floating mirrors near the platform she just pushed herself off from. But to her surprise there was absolutely nothing showing up on the reflection. Not even a shadow.

“Oh my god, am I a vampire?” Tulip cried.

“No… although I can see why you’d think that. You’ve been on this train for so long after all.”

“If I’m not a vampire then what on earth is this thing? Why can’t I see my reflection?”

“Look more closely.”

“Huh?”

A blurry image began to slowly surface from the flat silver plate, it was a figure, a very familiar figure. She was tall, confident and proud. A strange way to describe it but that was the vibe she gave off. She wore a white conductor uniform with a hat on top of her pony tail. It took a split second for Tulip to finally realize that this woman was her, but older.

“Is that… really me?”

“Do you honestly have to ask that? After all you’ve been through?”

“I…” Tulip stuttered, “I… j… just… it’s just so… surreal.”

“I know. But it’s the truth. That woman there was your previous self. This was the version of you who concocted the so-called greatest con in history. I would probably disagree with that, being a conman myself, well… actually… hmm… it’s hard to disagree with that if I’m being honest with myself.”

Tulip looked into the scene of the mirror and there she stood – tall, powerful and sharp. There was something in her eyes that seemed a bit off. A certain level of… viciousness that was so familiar and yet so alien, or maybe it was a sense of ruthlessness. The woman was standing there in the middle of what seemed like a cargo train car, and from afar Tulip could barely spot the two young gentlemen and the doctor being ordered around by this woman in uniform, like an arm general commanding her soldiers.

“This previous self of yours was… difficult to say the least,” Koo said in a rather nervous way. “You were cold, beyond ruthless, no nonsense, but… you were a genius. I’m not using that word lightly you hear? It wasn’t a self-proclaimed title or anything, it was just outright true. She, I mean, you were the one who came closer than anybody else on this train to beating the Conductor, something previously seen as impossible.”

Tulip was mesmerized by this individual, drawn in by her intimidating figure and seeing how awe-inspiring she looked as she commanded her ‘troops’. There was a cold dead look in her eyes, a stare of efficiency, a stare that saw nothing but numbers and calculations. The woman hadn’t even blinked for the last couple minutes.

“Tell me…” Tulip said, turning to the owl, “what exactly was the greatest con in history.”

“Ah that,” Koo scratched his head, “um… well… do you remember that big hole back in that train car with the dogs? What was it called… um… Corginia was it?”

“Wait, how did you know about that?” Tulip asked. “You weren’t even there.”

“Well actually… I was… sort of… point is, all of that was part of the plan. Part of your plan.”

“Explain this plan to me then.”

“Well… I think you would be able to explain it better than I,” Koo pointed towards the mirror.

Inside Tulip could see herself waving her hands around, gathering her group for a meeting. And gradually a voice emerged from the silver plate in front of her.

“ _Listen up people, we only have two hours before the Stewards return to this car and clear everything out. So let’s make this quick. We have to discuss our next move. As you all know this train is a contraption that exists on a plane outside of space and time. However, there are brief moments, very brief moments where it will rematerialize back into the physical realm for one reason or another. These moments could last anywhere between a few seconds up to a few decades, all of which are a speck compared to infinity. During this brief moment, the train would behave as if it was a regular train, at least on the surface it would. Beneath the metal and the engine is still a power that rivals that of infinity.”_

“What’s the difference between the two states then?” The doctor asked.

“ _I’m glad you asked, doctor. Now at first glance it might be tempting to say there are no difference between the train on Earth and the train traveling to the Infinite Beyond. But I assure you the devil’s in the tiny details. You see, I’ve come to the realization that the Conductor does not have as much power in the physical realm as he would if we were outside of time and space. As here on Earth he is bound by the laws of reality, thus incapable of rewriting the fabric of existence as he pleases.”_

“What proof do you have of this?” One of the suave gentlemen in the back asked.

“ _WE are the proof. The fact that we have any power or agency at all on this train is proof that the Conductor is neither omnipotent nor omnipresent as much as he likes to believe he is. The same is not necessarily true when we travel outside of the physical realm. I don’t need to remind you what happened to your partner do I?”_

“I can still feel his palm all over my face,” said the other gentlemen who Tulip had only now realized was blind, with, funnily enough, two black eye patches tied around his head.

“What does this have anything to do with the plan?” The suave gentleman asked.

“ _I’m getting there. So, according to my calculations, the transition between the physical realm and the track to the Infinite Beyond will occur in precisely one week. The transition itself will last precisely ten seconds in total that means we have to move fast AND move accurately if we want this plan to succeed, not a foot out of line. We have one shot at this. So I expect all of you to do exactly what I tell you to do, got it?”_

“Got it,” they all said in unison.

“ _Good. Now here’s the deal. As discussed before, the train and subsequently the Conductor himself, is ever so slightly weakened within the physical realm. Why is this important? Because the only thing that can destroy the train – is the train itself. Now obviously we’re not going to actually destroy the train, we need it to go back home after all, but going head-to-head against something with the power to go to infinity is foolish, you can’t win.”_

“So what are you proposing?”

“ _There is a car on this train somewhere that contains several miniature rockets. If my hypothesis is to be believed, these rockets are here for the purpose of short travel in and out between dimensions. Because transitioning in and out of the physical realm takes a lot of fuel out of the train. I’d imagine the Conductor wouldn’t want to waste that much fuel for just a quick milk run. Outside of space and time, these rockets can be powerful, very powerful. Powerful enough to puncture the metal walls of this very train, I’ve tested it myself. Such is not necessarily the case back in the physical realm, it’s still powerful on Earth, but not as much. Seems like a very useful weapon when you think about it.”_

“I’m not hearing a ‘ _but’_  in there,” the suave gentleman said.

“ _But…”_

“There it is.”

“ _Here’s the problem. Those rockets are guarded by those pesky Stewards, day in, day out. Never a moment of rest. Trust me, I sat there for one whole week and observed those creepy machines. They never left the premise. Which seems problematic at first until I found out that the Stewards can in fact malfunction when transitioned into the physical realm.”_

“You actually defeated one of those things?”

_“In the physical realm the Stewards take on the form of a human. So instead of attacking anything that moves on sight they will merely communicate when you attempt to approach them. At which point they can be easily dismantled. You don’t even have to use force. I once made their circuits explode by asking them to solve a paradox. It was quite the sight.”_

“So are you proposing we go to that train car, disable the Stewards and simply launch the rockets off onto the train?” Said the suave gentleman.

“ _Not quite. For one, the Stewards are still powerful machines. They are connected to one another like a system, a hive mind. If they are not put down in the proper manner they can just alert the rest of the train and have us kiss our dreams of getting off this thing goodbye. Even then, even if we manage to disable them, the rockets would still not be strong enough to damage the train, because we would still be in the physical realm. It wouldn’t even put a dent in it, trust me, I tested it.”_

“So what do we do?” Asked the blind man.

“I still don’t understand how any of this will help us get to the front of the train,” said the doctor.

“ _Just listen to me. What we need to do is time our approach so precisely that the launching of the rockets will overlap with the period of transition from the physical realm to the realm outside of time and space. If we were to try this plan when we’re already outside time and space it would’ve been impossible to break the Stewards, but if we were to launch the rockets while still in the physical realm it would not be strong enough to deal any significant damage. So we need to execute our plan at a specific time, a VERY specific time. On top of that we need to create a scenario to distract the Stewards so they won’t have enough time to alert the train system, and that’s not even mentioning the fact that in order for this to work we need a scapegoat on that rocket to fool them into thinking someone’s attempting to escape the train. One of the other train passengers will do. No one must ever know that it was the four of us who were behind this operation.”_

“You know you still haven’t told us how this relates to tricking the train Conductor and getting us to the front car.”

“ _It’s very simple really, once we launch the rockets it will create enough of a distraction to catch the attention of the Conductor. At which point he would need to get off his rear and out of the front train car. MEANING he has to open the door to that front car, thus giving us just enough time to sneak in there and mail us straight back home. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.”_

“That’s it?” The doctor said.

“Are you expecting to actually win against the Conductor with such an amateurish plan? The Conductor, someone who you of all people know is smarter and more dangerous than any mortal man who has ever walked on the face of the earth?” The suave man began pointing his finger.

“ _It is precisely because he’s so smart that I’m making this whole strategy against him so simple. He KNOWS how clever and gutsy the four of us can be. He KNOWS how shrewd and dangerous I can be. He is expecting a big elaborate overly complicated plan that goes all over the place. That is exactly why I’ll be doing literally everything else instead of that. It’s all part of the mind game you see. And with my perfect calculation and our flawless execution, ha-ha, he won’t know what’ll hit him. HA HA HA HA!”_

The number in her palm began to flicker, going down to 32.

“NO! Stop!” Tulip yelled, smashing her fist against the mirror, “No!”

“Tulip, what’s wrong?” Koo asked.

“That person… that person isn’t me. I can’t… I can’t do any of this! That’s just not who I am.”

“Tulip…”

“No! I won’t have any of it. Nothing you say will change my mind. It’s not me!” Tulip cried, “It’s not me.”

“Tulip, listen to me. No matter how much you want to deny it, it’s just not going to change the fact that this is the truth,” the owl pointed furiously at the mirror. “This was who you were before your last memory wipe. Or do you need me to show you more for you to believe me?”

“What do you mean?”

“That was just one of your previous selves,” he explained. “One out of hundreds if not thousands of your previous selves. All of whom have traversed this vast train of infinity, all of whom have had their minds erased at one point or another. Observe.”

Koo pointed at a different mirror, one that floated to the right of where they stood. Just like the previous mirror, it started with a blurry figure that slowly surfaced from the murky silver of the plate in the mirror, then gradually turned into something more recognizable.

It was a girl with red hair wearing a green jacket. No doubt about it, she was supposed to be Tulip. But she seemed a tad bit older than Tulip currently was. Not old enough to be called an adult, but not exactly a child either, maybe anywhere between fourteen and seventeen.

“Dad?” The girl called out as she entered the room, flicking on the light switch, “Oh geez, for goodness’ sake.”

The room inside was a complete mess, a mountain of dirty laundry on one side and a pile of unfolded shirts on the other. There was a whole pile of pizza boxes placed by the side of the couch, some of them were recently delivered while others had been left there for weeks if not months. In the back was a disorganized drum kit and a saxophone lying by the side. The kit was covered in plastic bags and moldy socks left there since at least a few weeks ago. Not to mention a whole line of empty bottles fallen to the side, some of them cracked, some filled with putrid liquid and unspeakable brew.

And there lying asleep on the couch, a man with messy long hair and a scruffy beard. He wore a white sleeveless shirt a strange stain on the front and a pair of brown pajama pants. He looked as if he was knocked out cold.

“Have you even moved since I last saw you?” The girl asked. “Sheesh…”

“What is this?” Tulip asked in front of the mirror.

“This,” the owl said, “is a version of you, one of the infinite versions of you. You told me this story once. It didn’t start out very happy. And it didn’t end very happy either.”

“How… how did it end?”

Koo began to sigh again:                                  

“With you boarding this train.”

The girl in the mirror began collecting all the dirty laundry across the room and gathered them into a little basket by the stairs. Along the way she also picked up the bottles and empty pizza boxes and threw them into the plastic bags. This went on for a little while before she approached the man and started dragging him by his arms, pulling him off the couch and moved him over into the back room where his bedroom was.

“When are you going to get off your rear and get a job I wonder,” said the girl. “I bet you didn’t even touch the leftovers I left in the fridge. Why do I even bother cooking dinner for you?”

The girl laid him down onto his bed just before covering him up with his blanket. She went ahead and collected the last of the empty bottles and dirty laundry in his room and chucked it outside, not before turning off the lights for the sleeping man inside.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me… not that it matters. It’s not like you’re listening or anything.”

And there she closed the door, leaving him in complete darkness.

The number in her palm flickered once more, going down to 31.

“No… no more,” Tulip cried, panting heavily. “Please stop. I just… I don’t understand… I don’t understand… I just don’t understand.”

“Why are you rejecting the truth?” Koo squawked, “This was who you were. This is who you are.”

“No! It doesn’t make sense.”

Tears began streaming down her face.

“My dad… he… this is not the memory I have of him. I remember… the train trips we used to take when I was little. Over the Colorado River… everything I remember… everything… none of it was anything like this… well, until…”

“Until what?”

Tulip began choking up, hesitant, it was clear it was something she didn’t want to talk about:

“Mom…”

The owl raised an eyebrow, removing his monocle at the same time.

“She… left,” Tulip began wiping the tears away. “But it couldn’t have. It couldn’t have changed everything so drastically. Please tell me it isn’t true. Please.”

“Hmm… perhaps one more mirror will help you realize the truth.”

“No, stop!”

But it was too late. The mirror to her left had already started forming its blurry images. Once again showing the image of a girl with long red hair and glasses. But she looked slightly older than the one in the previous mirror. As a matter of fact she looked like someone who was preparing for their college years. The dark blue uniform with a red tie and a distinct logo on the side was certainly an indication of that.

This time the girl was standing in what seemed like a typical classroom with the tables neatly placed all over the room and the chairs tucked in. There were no books anywhere to be found on the tables, nor were there anybody else around for that matter. Just the girl and a dapper looking old man with a mustache and grey hair, who Tulip assumed was a teacher.

“… Of course I wouldn’t mind writing you a recommendation letter,” said the teacher. “But are you absolutely sure that this is what you want?”

“Yes sir,” she said. “Absolutely.”

“Hmm, computer science huh?” He began scratching his chin, “It seems quite risky if you ask me.”

“Sir?”

“All I’m saying is that if you were to apply with your previous exam score as it is, a score that only manages to barely stay above the requirement line, then it can still be quite challenge to get accepted you know? Given how competitive the whole application process is.”

“I’ll take my chances, sir.”

“Well, I suppose you can’t go anywhere in life without a little guts and little risk. But tell me something, Tulip.”

“Yes?”

“Why aren’t you applying for the music program?”

“I…”

“Your performance at the Jazz Festival was absolutely amazing,” the teacher said. “Breathtaking even. And it shows here in your exam scores, too. I’d even argue that it’s what helped you reach the requirement mark.”

“Sir…”

“I’ve even been talking to your music teachers. They all said you have an exceptional talent. Your music theory is spot on, and your execution is… well… perfect. Considering who your father was, it’s not all that surprising. It all runs in the family, eh? So how come you don’t want to pursue that path?”

“It’s just not something I’m interested in, sir.”

“What does your father have to say about this?”

“This does not concern him. It’s my decision.”

“Tulip… I really think you ought to think this through before you make any rash decision.”

“Sir, with all due respect, if you’re not going to write me that recommendation letter then can you please stop wasting my time with pointless rhetoric? This is my decision to make, and my decision alone. What my old man has to say does not concern me. He’s made his decision to waste away his life, so I’m not about to make the same mistake. Excuse me.”

And with that the girl stormed out of the room and into the hallway.

The number on Tulip’s hand instantly dropped to 30.

“Please, stop…” Tulip whimpered as she collapsed in front of the mirror. “No more… I can’t… no more… I can’t handle it.”

“Tulip…”

“Are you happy now?” She cried.

“What?”

“Is this what you wanted? I’ve lost everything that was dear to me. My dad, my mom… Atticus, the life I had before. All of it – gone. And for what? Just to hear me tell you that I never really forgot my previous selves? Just to have me say out loud that I was faking my amnesia? Is that what you want? Tell me what you want you stupid owl! Why are you doing this to me?”

“I never wanted any of this!” Koo screeched. “Do you think I asked for any of this? Do you think I asked to be stuck on this train for hundreds of years? Do you think I asked to be turned into a bird of all things? I never wanted any of it! So for one minute will you stop being so selfish?”

“I’m selfish?” Tulip said, aghast. “Do you even hear yourself talk?”

“I admit I’m not perfect. I have my shortcomings. I’m not even a good person. I was a conman back when I was a human for crying out loud. My partner was a thief. I was basically a thief. But at least I wasn’t a selfish little brat who ran away from home because she didn’t get to have what she wanted.”

“How dare you? You think this is what it’s all about? That all this because I threw a tantrum?”

“I don’t think it, I know it. You were the one who arrogantly thought you could outsmart the Conductor of this train. You were the one who arrogantly thought that if you could prove how tech-savvy you were, how clever you were, that you could just avoid the responsibility and reality of the failure you left back home, the failure both in you and your father. I watched for over a century of you playing your elaborate game of chess with that stupid Conductor. Over a century, Tulip. I watched you purposefully stayed on this train just to prove a point. So you tell me who the selfish one is in this scenario.”

For a brief moment it looked as if Tulip’s tears were frozen right in place, shining like snowflakes under her pupils. But it could not stop flow down, dropping like stars. She placed her hand over her mouth with the green glow of her palm encompassing her cheeks. These were the tears of anger, of sadness, sadness for she knew deep down inside – there was some truth in what he said. Anger turned into hysteria, hysteria turned into sorrow, sorrow turned into relief… even a little happiness, as if a big weight was lifted off her shoulder and she finally understood what was missing inside of her.

“I’m sorry,” Koo said. “I took that a bit too far. I’m sorry… but I was your friend, Tulip. There are still many things that I still need to explain to you. Many things that may not make sense. But I need you to know… I need you to know that I am willing to help you out… for old times' sake.”

“But… why?”

“Huh?”

“Why would you want to help me?” She continued weeping, “I can’t help you off this train. The previous version of me couldn’t do that. And now look at me… I don’t even know who I am anymore. I mean…  _who am I?_  Tell me… am I the young student? Am I the little girl who ran away from home? Or am I the conman pretending to be a train conductor? Who am I?”

Koo took in one deep breath, bracing himself with an answer he was about to give. She expected a longwinded reply full of complex nuances, she expected an outrageous and elaborate rant. But all he said then was:

“You are Tulip. And that is everything you need to know… for now.”


End file.
